Title: Judge Fines Donald Trump $355 Million in Civil Fraud Trial

In a significant blow to Donald Trump's business empire, Judge Arthur Engoron issued a ruling on Friday holding the former president liable for fraudulent activities related to the inflation of property values. The judgment, totaling nearly $355 million, highlighted the severity of the civil fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Judge Engoron's ruling comes after a three-month-long trial, during which he found Trump and his co-defendants guilty of persistent and repeated fraud. The lawsuit alleged that Trump and his associates had manipulated financial statements to obtain more favorable loan and insurance rates, inflating the value of his assets.

While acknowledging the credibility issues surrounding Trump's former fixer, Michael Cohen, Judge Engoron emphasized that Cohen's testimony was crucial to the plaintiff's case. Engoron dismissed Trump's narrative that Cohen was a star witness for the attorney general's office and stated, "Michael Cohen was an important witness on behalf of the plaintiff, although hardly the linchpin that defendants have attempted to portray him to be."

The judge acknowledged that Cohen's testimony had been compromised by his previous perjury plea and some inconsistencies. However, Engoron believed Cohen's assertion that Trump had indirectly ordered him to reverse engineer financial statements in his "mob voice," rather than expressly directing him to do so.

In addition to the financial penalty, Engoron's ruling barred Trump from serving as a director of any company in New York for three years. While the judge refrained from dissolving the Trump Organization, his blistering 93-page opinion depicted the former president as unrepentant and highly likely to commit fraud again.

Engoron argued that significant injunctive relief was necessary to prevent further fraudulent activities by Trump and his associates, stating, "This Court finds that defendants are likely to continue their fraudulent ways unless the Court grants significant injunctive relief."

The staggering amount of the fine, coupled with the recent $83 million judgment against Trump in a defamation case, underscores the potential consequences the New York attorney general's civil fraud case poses to Trump's business empire. With the judge's ruling, Trump faces substantial financial penalties and restrictions on his future business activities.