Donald Trump has called the judge who ordered him to pay nearly $355 million for lying about the values of his properties “crooked” and said he was facing a political “witch hunt”.

On Friday, Mr Trump was ordered to pay a penalty of nearly $355 million after a judge found him liable for conspiring to manipulate his net worth.

Judge Arthur Engoron also banned him from serving as a company director or taking out loans from banks in New York for three years.

“A crooked New York state judge just ruled that I have to pay a fine of $355 million for having built a perfect company,” the former president said from Mar-a-Lago on Friday. “It’s a witch hunt against his political opponent, the likes of which our country has never seen before.”

The amount could wipe out his entire stockpile of cash, according to The New York Times.

In justifying the large penalty, Judge Engoron referred to previous allegations of wrongdoing. In a scathing 92-page decision, he wrote that the defendants were “likely to continue their fraudulent ways” unless he imposed a “significant” penalty.

He referenced the Trump Organisation’s conviction in a criminal tax fraud case in 2022, when a jury found it had enriched its top executives with off-the-books benefits for more than a decade.

“Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological,” Judge Engoron wrote.

Mr Trump has said he would appeal against the ruling.