The judge who dealt Trump a huge financial blow

During closing arguments in Donald J. Trump's civil fraud trial, Arthur F. Engoron, the judge who has overseen the case for more than three years, made a comment that might have been unusual for any other legal scholar.

Judge Engoron, a thin 74-year-old with an unruly shock of white hair, acknowledged that his control of the courtroom had not been perfect.

He had allowed repeated objections from Trump's lawyers despite protests from the New York attorney general's office, which brought the case. He had often ignored Trump's breaches of courtroom decorum. At one point, the judge recalled, he even had a witness answer his cell phone while he was on the stand.

Despite that, he warned the lawyers: “I don't want you to think I'm a wimp.”

No one is likely to think that now. Judge Engoron ruled against the former president on Friday, ruling that he had orchestrated a conspiracy to inflate his net worth, fining him $355 million and imposing a three-year ban from running his family business. Despite his absurdist humor and cheerfulness, the judge ultimately showed himself to be a very serious man.

It was the culmination of what was undoubtedly one of the most intense periods in Judge Engoron's professional life. During the trial, he faced repeated anonymous anti-Semitic attacks on his family and on his court clerk, Allison Greenfield, as well as threats on his own life. Last month, he woke up early one morning to find that a bomb squad had been sent to his Long Island home to respond to a report that turned out to be a hoax.

But despite the attacks and his own apparent desire for harmonious proceedings, Judge Engoron consistently came down hard on the former president. On Friday he continued his series of devastating statements.

Judge Engoron was an unlikely opponent of the former president, who has repeatedly labeled him a Democratic stooge. He is a former taxi driver and music instructor who served in the New York judiciary for more than 15 years before presiding over Trump's trial. He served as both judge and jury, as required by the statute under which the lawsuit was filed.

He first began overseeing the case in 2020, and over the months a dualistic approach emerged: concerned in court and scathing in written decisions.

For example, in February 2022 he supervised an explosive hearing in which he and Ms Greenfield focused on keeping the peace. They listened with equanimity as Trump's lawyers protested that their client should not be questioned under oath.

Then, in his written ruling, Judge Engoron did not hold back, claiming that the Attorney General, Letitia James, had found “abundant evidence of possible financial fraud” – evidence he wrote justified the questioning. A few months later, he held Mr. Trump in contempt of court for failing to fully respond to a subpoena, ultimately earning him a $110,000 fine.

Judge Engoron was thrust directly into the spotlight last September, the week before the civil fraud trial began. In a ruling before the trial, he delivered a devastating blow to Mr Trump, finding that his annual financial statements – which reflected his net worth – were riddled with fraud.

On the morning of opening arguments, Mr. Trump entered the courtroom ready for a fight, telling reporters in the hallway that he would soon be on trial before a “rogue” judge. A few minutes later, Judge Engoron took his seat on the bench and, as Trump sat in front of him, seemed completely unfazed: One of his first comments was a joke about the pronunciation of his own name.

“I am Judge Arthur Engoron, and that is the correct pronunciation of my last name,” he said. “En-GOR-on, not EN-go-ron or, worse, En-GU-ron.”

He looked amused as photographers captured Mr Trump frowning at the defense table, and he posed as they trained their lenses on him. Hours later, videos of Judge Engoron smiling at the cameras, set to the theme song of the sitcom “Full House,” would appear played thousands of times on TikTok.

His light-hearted attitude remained. He joked as photographers took similar pictures of Mr. Trump every day, saying, “You guys look the same.” He said he wanted the history books to record his strength as he ran up the stairs to the bank. He joked with his court staff and offered well wishes to lawyers on their birthdays.

The judge's tone lent itself to a permissive vibe, and Mr. Trump and his legal team quickly took advantage of that. They routinely gave long speeches deploring the unfairness of the proceedings. They persuaded Judge Engoron to allow hours of testimony from expert witnesses, following protests from the attorney general's office. Judge Engoron even allowed Donald Trump Jr. to give a brilliant slide presentation about his family's real estate holdings.

“Let him talk about how great the Trump Organization is,” Judge Engoron said.

More than two hours later, the eldest Trump son had discussed his family's history in real estate from the Yukon gold rush era, along with the interior of Trump Tower and his father's love of golf. As the attorney general's lawyers fussed, Judge Engoron occasionally smiled at the witness.

Judge Engoron's inclination to give the green light was not simply the whim of an unconventional legal mind. He explained early in the trial that he wanted to avoid a retrial of the case, or any questioning of his decisions by an appeals court.

“To me, this basically argues for allowing rather than denying the questions, answers, expert testimony and so on,” he said.

The judge only had a few red lines. He was furious about the attacks on Mrs Greenfield, his chief clerk. Her unusually visible role in the case – she sits next to Judge Engoron on the bench and consults with him on legal matters – was harshly criticized by the defense.

During the first week of the trial, Judge Engoron issued a limited gag order barring Mr. Trump from commenting on his staff after the former president shared a photo of Ms. Greenfield with Senator Chuck Schumer on Truth Social and called her “Schumer's girlfriend.” . Weeks later, the judge fined Mr. Trump $5,000 after learning that a copy of the message was still visible on Mr. Trump's campaign website. At the time, he threatened higher fines and possible prison sentences.

But the comments about Ms. Greenfield kept coming. In one of the most striking moments of the trial, Judge Engoron called Mr. Trump to the witness stand and questioned him about his statement to reporters in which he referred to “a person who is very partisan and sitting next to” the judge, “perhaps more partisan than him .”

Mr Trump claimed he had been talking about someone else. But Judge Engoron found Trump's answers were not credible and fined him another $10,000 for attacking the clerk again.

“I am very protective of my staff,” Judge Engoron said that day. “I don't want anyone to get killed.”

Behind the scenes, the judge was inundated with hundreds of threats from Trump supporters. They escalated whenever Trump personally attacked Judges Engoron and Ms. Greenfield, court officials said, requiring constant reevaluation of the court's security protocols. Mr Trump falsely accused the judge's wife of sharing anti-Trump rhetoric on social media and his son of receiving preferential access to the courtroom.

The disorder in the courtroom and the commotion outside seemed to have little impact on Judge Engoron's view of the case and on the fundamental issue at trial: Mr. Trump's liability.

At one point, the judge denied the defense's request to end the case on the spot after bankers said they were satisfied with Mr. Trump as a client. “The mere fact that the lenders were happy does not mean that the statute was not violated,” Judge Engoron said.

On another occasion when Trump's lawyers asked him to dismiss the case, Judge Engoron was unyielding.

“No way, no, how is this case dismissed,” he said. “There is enough evidence in this case to fill this courtroom.”

William K. Rashbaum reporting contributed.