Trump launches gold sneakers after judge fines him $354.9mln for fraud
3 Min Read
The shoes that are topped with an American flag on the back are being sold as Never Surrender High-Tops for a whopping $399.
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Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump attends Sneaker Con Philadelphia, an event popular among sneaker collectors, in Philadelphia, Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024. (AP)
Just a day after a New York judge fined him a penalty of $354.9 million for fraud, former US President Donald Trump launched his own sneaker brand and made the revelation it at Sneaker Con in Philadelphia.
“I’ve wanted to do this a long time,” he said of the gold high tops with an American flag on the back.
The shoes that are topped with an American flag on the back are being sold as Never Surrender High-Tops for a whopping $399. They can be found on a website that also sells Trump-branded Victory47 cologne and perfume for $99 a piece. However, the website claims to have no connection to Trump’s campaign, even though campaign officials showcased it in online posts.
Trump did not spare a moment for Justice Arthur Engoron, whom he lashed out at after being ordered, alongside his eldest sons and associates, to pay the fine and pre-judgment interest fees for intentionally committing financial fraud over a decade.
He told thousands of supporters at a campaign rally in Michigan that the ruling was an “election interference ploy," that the judge was part of a “left-wing” conspiracy to stop him from running again, and that “these repulsive abuses of power are not just an attack on me, they are an attack on all Americans."
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Trump was also banned from serving as an officer or director of any corporation in New York for three years. The judge said of Trump and his co-defendants: “Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological.”
'Corporate death penalty'
Trump - almost certain to be the Republican presidential nominee this November - was found liable for unlawfully inflating his wealth and manipulating the value of properties to obtain favorable bank loans or insurance terms.
He accused President Joe Biden of driving the case, calling it "weaponization against a political opponent who's up a lot in the polls," and vowed to appeal.
As the case was civil, not criminal, there was no threat of imprisonment, but Trump said ahead of the ruling that a ban on conducting business in New York state would be akin to a "corporate death penalty."
Trump, facing 91 criminal counts in other cases, has used his cases to incite supporters and denounce his likely opponent, Biden, claiming that court cases are "just a way of hurting me in the election."
Engoron's order was a "victory" for New York state Attorney General Letitia James, who had sought $370 million from Trump to remedy the advantage he is alleged to have wrongfully obtained and have him barred from conducting business in the state.
"This is a tremendous victory for this state, this nation, and for everyone who believes that we all must play by the same rules -- even former presidents," James said.
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Trump has repeatedly attacked James, calling her a "lunatic", and slammed Engoron, who decided the case without a jury, calling him "out of control."
