In New York, a court revealed that Judge Arthur Engoron had “cooked the books,” inflating figures that had no basis in reality. His valuations, seen by many as self-serving, were so wildly exaggerated that they were thrown out completely. The result? More than half a billion dollars off the mark.
That man is Judge Arthur Engoron.
After a New York appellate court unanimously tossed Engoron’s half-a-billion-dollar judgment and interest against President Donald Trump, the irony was striking. Engoron had accused Trump’s witnesses of “simply denying reality,” yet it was his own math that collapsed under review. His infamous claim that Mar-a-Lago was worth just $18 million to $27.6 million now seems tame compared to his broader accounting.
Not a single judge on appeal preserved a dollar of Engoron’s ruling.
For many who covered the trial, one of the most memorable moments came at the very start. Engoron claimed he did not want cameras in the courtroom, but when they appeared, he removed his glasses and appeared to pose. It felt like a scene out of Sunset Boulevard, with only Gloria Swanson missing to deliver the line: “All right, [Ms. James], I’m ready for my close-up.”
The close-up turned out to be disastrous. On appeal, the court found little legal or factual support for the massive fine. Witnesses testified that they had not lost money but had, in fact, profited from Trump’s loans—and wanted to continue doing business. That did not sway Engoron, who seemed more concerned with public perception than the law.
Outside the courthouse, the atmosphere often felt more like a circus than a trial. New York Attorney General Letitia James had campaigned on a promise to go after Trump, without citing any specific crime. Many saw the case less as a legal proceeding and more as political theater.
James, however, needed a judge willing to inflate fines and bend the law to her strategy. She found that in Engoron.
Even some commentators hostile to Trump admitted the case was impossible to defend.
Judge David Friedman offered a sharp rebuke, noting the statute used “has never been used in the way it is being used in this case – namely, to attack successful, private, commercial transactions, negotiated at arm’s length between highly sophisticated parties fully capable of monitoring and defending their own interests.”
He accused Engoron of aiding James in an effort “directed at ending with the derailment of President Trump’s political career and the destruction of his real estate business.”
Other judges went further, arguing that Engoron’s fine was so extreme it violated the Eighth Amendment, which protects citizens from “cruel and unusual” punishments. In trying to strike at Trump, Engoron not only inflated numbers but also undermined constitutional safeguards.
Trump still has the option to appeal the remaining portions of Engoron’s decision, including restrictions on the Trump family’s business activities in New York. By the time a final ruling comes, some of those measures may no longer matter. Ironically, had Engoron shown restraint, he might have secured a lasting judgment. Instead, his sweeping order was demolished on review.
Rather than a careful ruling, Engoron delivered a spectacle—and it has placed him, not Trump, in the harshest spotlight.
