Who is Arthur Engoron, the judge who ordered Trump to pay $350 million?

New York Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron, who presided over former President Trump’s contentious civil fraud trial, is a longtime judge who once pursued a career in music, drove a yellow taxi and still authors an alumni newsletter about his high school.

Engoron was born in Queens, New York, in the late 1940s before his family moved to Long Island, where he attended The Wheatley School, a public high school in Old Westbury, New York. Engoron was active at the school, running track and contributing to the school newspaper before graduating from the school in 1967.

Years after his graduation, Engoron founded the Wheatley Alumni Association and still authors the group’s online newsletter. Engoron published the most recent newsletter entry on Monday, boasting of increased traffic on the blog, listing the compliments the newsletter had received and detailing life updates of past Wheatley graduates.

“Please send me your autobiography before someone else sends me your obituary,” he concluded, as he does in every post before signing off as “Art.”

TRUMP BLASTS ‘CLUBHOUSE POLITICIAN’ JUDGE AFTER BEING FINED $350M, DEFENDS THE ‘GREAT COMPANY’ HE BUILT

After high school, he attended Columbia University in Manhattan and even drove a yellow taxi cab while pursuing his undergraduate degree. While hearing a case in 2012 related to New York City taxi cabs, Engoron stated he loved his time as a cab driver because he learned “how to drive like a maniac without being caught,” according to ABC News.

Years later, he attended the New York University School of Law, graduating in 1979.

Immediately after receiving his law degree, he joined the law firm Olwine, Connelly, Chase, O’Donnell & Weyher as an associate, crossing paths with the late Judith Kaye, who served as chief judge of the State of New York Court of Appeals. Engoron departed the firm to join another firm, Pryor, Cashman, Sherman & Flynn,…