Former US President Donald Trump must pay nearly $355m to New York state for lying about the values of his properties, a judge has ruled, the BBC reports.
Judge Arthur Engoron also banned him from serving as a company director or taking out loans from banks in the state for three years.
The New York real estate mogul escaped having some of his companies dissolved, which could have meant bankruptcy.
Speaking from his Florida estate, Mr Trump said he would appeal the ruling.
“A crooked New York state judge just ruled I have to pay a fine for $350m for having built a perfect company,” the former president said from Mar-a-Lago on Friday, calling the ruling a political witch hunt.
“It’s a very sad day for – in my opinion – the country.”
In the ruling on Friday, Judge Engoron referred to previous allegations of wrongdoing in justifying the large amounts he ordered the defendants to pay, writing that they “are likely to continue their fraudulent ways” unless he imposed a “significant” penalty.
He made specific reference to the Trump Organization’s conviction in a criminal tax fraud case in 2022, where a jury found it had enriched its top executives with off-the books benefits for more than a decade.
