Trump avoids ‘corporate death penalty,’ but his business will still get slammed

By BERNARD CONDON
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York judge has spared Donald Trump a “corporate death penalty” ruling, but the business did get hit hard with bans and cash penalties. The ruling Friday in the civil fraud case against Trump will drain cash from corporate coffers and severely restrict the ex-president’s ability to run his real estate empire. Still, it could have been worse. In a surprise reversal, the judge said he wasn’t going to follow through on an earlier order canceling Trump’s business certificates as a prelude to a “dissolution” of his companies. That raised the specter of a possible firesale of Trump properties.