The verdict is in for Donald Trump’s New York civil fraud case, more than a month after the trial wrapped up: The former president is banned from running a New York company for three years and must pay $354 million in damages for fraudulent business tactics, the judge ruled.

If the decision holds up on appeal, it’ll cost Trump between 13% and 18% of his money, based on projections from Forbes and the New York Attorney General’s Office.

A refresher: This trial was about Trump overinflating his wealth on financial documents—by as much as $3.6 billion, according to New York Attorney General Letitia James—and using them to get better bank loans and insurance policies. James alleged that Trump saved at least $168 million by misrepresenting his net worth.

How will Trump pay up? Trump has vowed to appeal, and he won’t have to pay while a higher court considers the case. But to cover the massive sum he’s been ordered to pay in disgorgement, Trump could decide to sell off his NY properties.

And it’s not just about one fine—the ruling states that:

• Sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. must pay $4 million each and are banned from doing business in NY for two years. One-time Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg must also shell out $1 million.
• Trump, his eponymous company, and any affiliates cannot apply for loans from NY-registered banks for three years.
• A court-appointed independent monitor will review the Trump Organization’s ventures on a case-by-case basis and consider dissolving or restructuring any noncompliant businesses—effectively limiting the Trump family’s ability to steer the ship.

This is one trial of many. Trump is also defending himself against RICO charges in Georgia, felony hush money charges in Manhattan, the DOJ’s classified-documents-at-Mar-a-Lago case, and the DOJ’s federal election subversion charges. On top of all this, Trump is appealing a recent civil jury decision ordering him to pay writer E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million for defamation.—ML

Putin critic Aleksei Navalny reportedly died in a Russian prison. According to Russian authorities, Navalny, the country’s fiercest voice of opposition, collapsed and died after taking a walk at the remote Arctic penal colony where he’d been jailed on extremism charges that were considered a sham by Western governments and human rights groups. In 2020, Navalny was poisoned and airlifted to Germany for treatment, but the politician decided to return to Russia to continue his anti-corruption activism, even after directly accusing President Vladimir Putin of ordering the poisoning. He was immediately arrested upon returning and had been imprisoned ever since. Many other vocal critics of Putin are either imprisoned, exiled, or have already been killed.

And the world is reacting to Navalny’s death. Some Western world leaders are accusing Putin of murder. President Joe Biden praised Navalny’s courage and said there was “no doubt” that “Putin and his thugs” were responsible for his death. Biden and other Democrats also used the occasion to push for more aid to Ukraine to fight Putin. Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, was met with a standing ovation at the Munich Security Conference, where she said Putin “will be punished.” But Russia’s Foreign Ministry called accusations from Western leaders “self-exposing” since more information is not yet available.

Paramount+ and Peacock discussed a tie-up. In the latest sign that the streaming services we all cut the cord for seem determined to bundle themselves back into cable, the Wall Street Journal reports that Paramount and Comcast have recently discussed combining their streamers. The news comes after reports that antitrust regulators will scrutinize plans by Warner Bros. Discovery, Fox, and Disney’s ESPN to team up on a new sports streaming service. And it’s worth noting that Paramount is exploring all kinds of strategic moves lately, as it’s searching for someone to buy it.

You already know the demand for used cars is high. But did you know the average trade-in value in January 2024 was nearly 60% higher than it was just five years ago? Those are huuuge numbers.

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Not since 2017’s “Cat Person” has a piece of writing triggered so much online discourse. Social media can’t get enough of an essay published Thursday by New York Magazine’s financial advice columnist, Charlotte Cowles, which chronicled how she was scammed into putting a shoebox with $50,000 into the back of an SUV driven by a stranger.

The full story is worth using your monthly NY Mag reading credit, but the TL;DR is that Cowles got a call from someone pretending to be an Amazon employee who warned her of suspicious activity on her account. Cowles was then transferred to “the FTC” and then “the CIA,” where “investigators” convinced her that someone had stolen her identity and scared her into trusting them with almost her entire savings.

Everyone responded with empathy

Jk. One commenter roasted Cowles for her $4 million home and asked, “You think Amazon will white glove you over to the CIA…?” Even FTC Chair Lina Khan issued a warning.

Katie Gatti Tassin of Money with Katie, who was quoted in the original essay, told us, “The irony is that everyone who reads this piece probably will be less susceptible to fraud in the future…but we won’t keep talking about it openly or sharing our experiences if we’re met with people calling for our husbands to divorce us.”

Bottom line: Cowles, who is 39, claims in her essay anyone can be a victim of these types of crimes, especially young people. She may be onto something: Gen Zers are three times more likely to fall for online scams compared to boomers, according to a Deloitte survey.—MM

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Eagles fans will soon be able to go on a cleansing Wawa run if they ever find themselves with an away loss to the Carolina Panthers. The iconic convenience-store chain that’s synonymous with Philly and Jersey pride plans to open 280 new stores in the South and Midwest, according to Bloomberg.

The Wawa factor

Plenty of folks are happy to chow down on Wawa’s divisive pizza or Built-to-Order hoagies, often using its trash cans as makeshift tables. But don’t let that fool you—Wawa’s bathrooms are famously sparkling.

• Since its founding in 1964 by the billionaire Wood family, Wawa achieved cult status among Philadelphians, South Jerseyites, and residents of mid-Atlantic states and Florida (so much so that even Harry Styles has tried to mooch off its wide appeal).
• Now, the Woods are hoping that people in North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, and Indiana will run to its doors as fast as Rocky sprinted up those stairs.

Big Picture: Bloomberg reported that Wawa told employees—who own 38% of the company—that it hopes to establish a presence in every state one day.—SK

Stat: We hope you got the same kind of news at your annual review this year that former DJ David Solomon got at his. The Goldman Sachs CEO received a 24% pay bump for 2023, bringing his total compensation to $31 million, even as the Wall Street giant’s profits fell by an ironically symmetrical 24%. That’s a bigger increase than any other CEO of a major US bank whose salary has been revealed, per Bloomberg. Part of the fat raise probably had to do with the fact that Solomon’s pay was down ~30% the year before amid low profits, but the Goldman compensation committee also said he deserved it for his “decisive leadership” in simplifying the firm’s strategy to set the bank up for future success (read: ditching consumer banking).

Quote: “Paul is incredibly grateful to all those involved.”

That Paul is the one and only Sir Paul McCartney and he’s grateful because he’s no longer weeping over his guitar: A bass the Beatles legend lost in 1972 has been found and returned to him. The reappearance of the instrument—which was stolen from the back of a van—comes after a yearslong internet crowdsourcing campaign to find the distinctive violin-shaped guitar, which McCartney played on the band’s early albums. While it was feared to have been destroyed, the guitar was found in its original case in the possession of a family in southern England, who said they inherited it.

Watch: Morning Brew’s own Neal and Toby talk to Mark Zuckerberg about Meta vs. Apple, AI, and smoking meats. (YouTube)

Talking the talk: Watch a voice-over actor break down 10 common tones.

Travel tip: The best times to visit popular travel destinations.

Sob: How to cry on cue.

Read: With scams all the rage, check out this one from a guy who lived in an NYC hotel for five years for free—but got busted after he claimed to own the building.

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