STORMY DANIELS PAYMENT · NEW YORK CRIMINAL CASE
GUILTY.
34 FELONY COUNTS.
On May 30, 2024, a New York jury found Donald Trump guilty of all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The case concerned concealment of reimbursements for a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
WHAT WAS DONE
Prosecutors described Michael Cohen’s payment to keep Daniels’s account from becoming public, followed by reimbursements falsely recorded as legal services. Trump disputed the prosecution. The jury convicted him on the charged business-record offenses.
The indictment identifies invoices, ledger entries and checks/check stubs from 2017. The 34 counts concern those business records; they do not represent 34 payments to Daniels or 34 sexual encounters.
WHETHER IT’S IN FORCE
Trump received an unconditional discharge on January 10, 2025: no imprisonment, fine or probation. The August 28, 2026 federal order denied his bid to move the case to federal court and recorded his state appeal as pending.
This is the status described in that dated order. A later appeal can change a judgment; we have not completed a subsequent appellate-docket check. An unconditional discharge is a sentence, not an acquittal.
HOW THEY DEFEND IT
Trump has challenged the conviction and argued that presidential immunity and federal law support moving the case to federal court. The August 28 order rejected removal. That ruling does not dispose of every issue in his state appeal.
WHAT THE RECORD SHOWS
Justice Merchan’s January 3, 2025 decision describes a unanimous guilty verdict and intent to commit or conceal a conspiracy to promote a presidential election by unlawful means.
The jury instructions required proof beyond a reasonable doubt of false business records and fraudulent intent including intent to commit, aid or conceal another crime. Jurors did not have to agree on which of the listed unlawful means supported the election-law predicate.
WHAT THE RECORD DOESN’T SHOW
The verdict was for falsifying business records, not a separate federal campaign-finance conviction. It does not measure how many votes the concealment changed. We do not treat every allegation in the prosecution’s filing as an additional jury finding.
Court-order and filing excerpts checked October 11, 2026. Latest ruling checked: August 28. A complete subsequent appellate-docket check, full trial-transcript review and independent comparison of every exhibit remain open.
The verdict sheet is linked, but this pass did not independently transcribe its image-only pages; the verdict is corroborated in the court’s written decision.
OPEN THE COURT RECORDS
- New York Courts · May 30, 2024 verdict sheet ↗
Three-page verdict sheet. Located; image-only object not independently transcribed in this pass. The verdict is corroborated by the January 3 court order.
- Justice Merchan · January 3, 2025 decision ↗
Printed pages 1 and 10: May 30 verdict and the court’s explanation of the election-related intent found by the jury.
- New York Courts · jury instructions ↗
Printed pages 27–35: felony elements, election-law predicate and unanimity rule. These are instructions, not separate convictions.
- Manhattan District Attorney · statement of facts ↗
Paragraphs 3–4 and 20–34: payment and reimbursement allegations. A prosecution filing; distinguish its account from the jury’s verdict.
- Federal court · August 28, 2026 order ↗
ECF 93, printed pages 1, 6 and 32: removal denied; January 10 sentence and then-pending state appeal; private conduct analysis.
- Manhattan District Attorney · 34-count indictment ↗
Counts 1–34 identify invoices, ledger entries and checks/check stubs dated in 2017. An indictment states charges, not proof.