The judge who cut a broad swath through Donald J. Trump’s personal and corporate coffers on Friday, ordering him to pay a penalty in his civil fraud trial that will exceed $450 million, was both cutting and colorful in his characterization of the former president’s conduct.
The judge, Arthur F. Engoron, an unconventional jurist who presided over the trial, wrote a detailed 92-page legal decision that wove lyrical descriptions of Mr. Trump’s statements and actions into the legal analysis that supported his decision.
There are folksy aphorisms. There are biblical references to sin. There’s Bernie Madoff. And there’s even an 18th-century poet.
A former cabdriver and music teacher, the judge is an unlikely antagonist for Mr. Trump, who has repeatedly denounced him as a Democratic stooge and criticized his family and his law clerk.
Here are a few notable passages from the decision.
