I just read the court order.

Well, I skimmed a lot of the recitation of evidence.

It is devastating. And the penalties are far more than the monetary fines. The Trump organization comes under significantly enhanced outside monitoring and control. The independent Monitor will have enhanced powers and is required to approve transactions in advance. The Monitor is also to hire an Independent Controller at the company’s expense to create accurate financial statements. Donald Trump, Eric, and Don Jr. are prohibited from serving as officers or board members of any New York company for 2-3 years. The Trump organization is prohibited from applying for or receiving a loan from any New York financial institution for 3 years.

The determinations of total financial lack of control and ineptness is breathtaking for an organization of its size. It totally devastates any suggestion that Donal Trump is a skilled businessman.

As an example, from the ruling:

In her final report, Judge Jones made the followings findings and observations: (1) beginning in 2022, defendants elected no longer to submit SFCs, instead crafting their own list of “the Trust’s Material Assets and Material Liabilities, which does not include estimated current values of the properties contained therein and does not include a balance sheet of the guarantor or any representations regarding his financial condition, notwithstanding the loan covenants that still require it; 57 (2) during the course of her monitorship, defendants transferred significant funds58 outside of the Trust without notifying the monitor, as they were obligated to do; (3) during the course of her monitorship, defendants have submitted disclosures to third parties that fail to include significant liabilities; 59 (4) the defendants are no longer representing that any disclosures are GAAP compliant, despite certain continuing obligations to do so; (5) annual budgets of projected performance were submitted to third parties that were materially different from the actual budgets of the prior year and which excluded or significantly reduced actual management fees as liabilities; (6) the internal accounting structure of the Trump Organization continues to be plagued by math and/or reporting errors; and (7) there are no adequate internal controls over financial reporting in place at the Trump Organization to ensure that there will not continue to be misstatements and errors going forward. NYSCEF Doc. No. 1681.

Further, the Court notes that top leadership roles at the Trump Organization, particularly the CFO and Controller, remain vacant. Approximately five months after Weisselberg pleaded guilty to having committed 15 counts of tax fraud at the Trump Organization, Eric Trump negotiated, approved, and executed his separation agreement. 60 The role of CFO has remained vacant ever since, a fact that Donald Trump, Jr. did not know at trial, mistakenly believing that Mark Hawthorn was the new CFO. Similarly, the role of Controller has remained vacant since McConney left the Trump Organization in February 2023.

Thus, the Trump Organization does not have the ability to operate with a functional financial reporting structure that would protect against fraud in the future. The fact that there are virtually no internal controls in place at the Trump Organization, “creates an atmosphere conducive to fraud.” People v Northern Leasing Sys., Inc., 193 AD3d 67, 75 (1st Dept 2021).

Click here for link at https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/ViewDocument?docInde