Manhattan judge Arthur Engoron has denied former president Donald Trump’s request for a 30-day extension on the due date for a recently ordered $355 million payment in his high-profile New York civil-fraud case.
Engoron sent an email to the case’s defendants on Thursday, saying they had “failed to explain, much less justify, any basis for a stay” in a letter submitted the day before. “I am confident that the Appellate Division will protect your appellate rights,” he wrote. The email was posted to the court docket.
In a court document filed Wednesday, Trump’s legal team asked Engoron, who serves on the New York state supreme court, to suspend enforcement of the ruling “to allow for an orderly post-Judgment process, particularly given the magnitude of Judgment.” After the verdict goes into effect, Trump is ordered to submit the funds in one month’s time.
Trump’s lawyers also noted that New York attorney general Letitia James, who prosecuted the case, demonstrated an “unseemly rush” to enforce the ruling. This conduct “violates all accepted practice in New York state court,” the lawyers said.
In an ABC News interview on Tuesday, James said she’s prepared to ask the presiding judge to seize Trump’s business assets if he can’t pay the $355 million fine and an additional $100 million in pre-judgment interest by the court’s deadline. The attorney general touted the verdict as Trump paying off a debt to New York residents.
The judge’s response comes nearly a week after the civil-fraud verdict was given. On Friday, Engoron served the $355 million verdict and an additional $100 million in pre-judgment interest to Trump and his companies over their allegedly fraudulent financial statements. Trump and the other co-defendants, including his sons Donald Jr. and Eric, were found liable for inflating his net worth to receive lower interest rates. The court decision was made without a jury.
As part of the ruling, Donald Jr. and Eric Trump each must pay $4 million after Engoron found them liable for multiple counts of fraud, including issuing false financial statements, falsifying business records, and conspiracy. Additionally, former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg is being held liable for $1 million. Overall, a $364 million penalty fine was issued to defendants Friday afternoon.
The former president and real-estate mogul was also barred from operating a business in New York for the next three years.
James first brought the case against him, his family, and the Trump Organization in September 2022, a few years after campaigning on the promise that she’d target Trump. James assumed office as the New York attorney general in 2019.
Trump plans to appeal the court decision, his attorney, Alina Habba, said immediately after the Friday ruling.
“It is the culmination of a multi-year, politically fueled witch hunt that was designed to ‘take down Donald Trump’ before Letitia James ever stepped foot into the Attorney General’s office,” Habba said. “If this decision stands, it will serve as a signal to every single American that New York is no longer open for business.”