Judge Engoron fines ex-president $454 million

A New York judge on Friday ordered Donald Trump to pay about $454 million in total penalties as part of his ruling in the former president’s civil business fraud trial.

The staggering figure includes about $355 million in disgorgement, a term for returning ill-gotten gains, plus more than $98 million in prejudgment interest that will accrue every day until it is paid, according to a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office.

Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron also barred Trump from running a business in New York for three years.

The former president also faces a three-year ban on applying for loans from financial institutions registered with the state.

“New York means business in combating business fraud,” Engoron wrote in the 92-page ruling.

The judge delivered the final decision from the trial, which was held without a jury.

“We’ve employed tens of thousands of people in New York, and we pay taxes like few other people have ever paid in New York,” Trump said in remarks at his Mar-a-Lago resort after the ruling. “They don’t care about that. It’s a state that’s going bust because everybody’s leaving.”

His attorney Chris Kise said in a statement earlier Friday that Trump “will of course appeal.”

The former president “remains confident the Appellate Division will ultimately correct the innumerable and catastrophic errors made by a trial court untethered to the law or to reality,” Kise said.

The appeals process could take several years to resolve.

The explosive trial stemmed from New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit accusing Trump, his two adult sons, his company and top executives of fraudulently inflating Trump’s assets to boost his stated net worth and obtain various financial perks.

“There simply cannot be different rules for different people,” James said in a statement celebrating the ruling Friday afternoon.

“Everyday Americans cannot lie to a bank to get a mortgage to buy a home, and if they did, our government would throw the book at them,”…