New York Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron, who presided over former President Trump’s contentious civil fraud trial, is a longtime decide who as soon as pursued a profession in music, drove a yellow taxi and nonetheless authors an alumni e-newsletter about his highschool.
Engoron was born in Queens, New York, within the late Nineteen Forties earlier than his household moved to Long Island, the place he attended The Wheatley School, a public highschool in Old Westbury, New York. Engoron was energetic on the college, operating observe and contributing to the college newspaper earlier than graduating from the college in 1967.
Years after his commencement, Engoron based the Wheatley Alumni Association and nonetheless authors the group’s on-line e-newsletter. Engoron printed the latest e-newsletter entry on Monday, boasting of elevated site visitors on the weblog, itemizing the compliments the e-newsletter had obtained and detailing life updates of previous Wheatley graduates.
“Please send me your autobiography before someone else sends me your obituary,” he concluded, as he does in each publish earlier than signing off as “Art.”
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Justice Arthur Engoron presides over the civil fraud trial of the Trump Organization on the New York State Supreme Court in New York City on Nov. 13, 2023. (ERIN SCHAFF/POOL/AFP through Getty Images)
After highschool, he attended Columbia University in Manhattan and even drove a yellow taxi cab whereas pursuing his undergraduate diploma. While listening to a case in 2012 associated to New York City taxi cabs, Engoron acknowledged he beloved his time as a cab driver as a result of he discovered “how to drive like a maniac without being caught,” in line with ABC News.
Years later, he attended the New York University School of Law, graduating in 1979.
Immediately after receiving his legislation diploma, he joined the legislation agency Olwine, Connelly, Chase, O’Donnell & Weyher as an affiliate, crossing paths with the late Judith Kaye, who served as chief decide of the State of New York Court of Appeals. Engoron departed the agency to hitch one other agency, Pryor, Cashman, Sherman & Flynn, as an affiliate in 1981.
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Engoron, although, left that agency in 1983 to pursue a profession within the music business, ABC News reported. For years, he labored as a musical teacher.
“I have had a lot of lawyers who got to another firm, but he’s the only one who told me he was leaving to pursue music,” James Janowitz, a associate at Pryor, Cashman, Sherman & Flynn, instructed ABC News final 12 months.
New York Judge Arthur Engoron, proper, dominated on Friday that former President Trump should pay over $350 million in damages to the state of New York as the results of his civil fraud trial. (Fox News)
He finally returned to the legislation career when, in 1991, he turned a principal legislation clerk for New York Supreme Court Justice Martin Schoenfield. He remained in that place for 11 years.
In 2003, Engoron turned a decide on the New York City Civil Court and, a decade later, he was appointed to be an appearing justice of the state’s trial courtroom. In 2015, he ran unopposed for a everlasting spot on the courtroom.
According to his official New York courtroom biography, Engoron stays a member of the New York County Lawyers Association, the American Civil Liberties Union, Brehon Law Society, Columbia College and NYU Law Alumni Associations, Jewish Lawyers Guild and New York Women’s Bar Association.
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Meanwhile, final week, in his most high-profile case, Engoron barred Trump from working his enterprise in New York for 3 years and ordered the previous president to pay $355 million in damages. The case was initiated after Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit alleging Trump inflated his property and dedicated fraud.
New York Attorney General Letitia James sits within the courtroom through the fraud trial of former President Trump on Nov. 3, 2023. After Judge Arthur Engoron handed down his ruling final week, James claimed victory and acknowledged that “justice has been served,” including that it was a “tremendous victory” for the state and nation. (Dave Sanders-Pool/Getty Images)
In a 92-page determination, Engoron dominated that Trump and the defendants had been accountable for “persistent and repeated fraud,” “falsifying business records,” “issuing false financial statements,” “conspiracy to falsify false financial statements,” “insurance fraud,” and “conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.”
Engoron took time within the ruling to criticize Trump and his participation within the trial, stating that he “rarely responded to the questions asked, and he frequently interjected long, irrelevant speeches on issues far beyond the scope of the trial.”
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“His refusal to answer the questions directly, or in some cases, at all, severely compromised his credibility,” Engoron wrote.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., proper, blasted New York State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, left, in an ethics criticism filed late final 12 months. (Getty Images)
Over the course of the trial late final 12 months, Trump and his allies repeatedly criticized Engoron — who all through his profession has solely donated to Democrats — over his dealing with of the case.
“We shouldn’t be having a case here because we have a disclaimer clause that every court holds up except this judge,” Trump mentioned in November. “They’re trying to hurt me — especially her, for political reasons,” Trump added in reference to James.
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Additionally, House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., filed an ethics criticism in opposition to Engoron in November, alleging he had exhibited “inappropriate bias and judicial intemperance” within the case.
Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
