Appeals Court Throws Out Half-Billion-Dollar Fine In Trump Fraud Case
A New York appeals court Thursday dealt a partial win to President Donald Trump, dropping a half-billion-dollar fine Trump was ordered to pay for exaggerating his wealth to obtain favorable lending terms.
The court upheld the fraud ruling itself in a split decision, which Trump had sought to have overturned, The New York Times reported.
“While harm certainly occurred, it was not the cataclysmic harm that can justify a nearly half billion-dollar award to the state,” wrote Peter Moulton, one of the appeals judges.
The ruling "reflected significant disagreement among the five-judge panel," according to the NYT. The case will now likely move to the state's highest court, the NYT reported.
There, Trump can ask to extend the pause on any other punishments from taking effect, including the limit on his ability to do business in the state of New York, the Associated Press reported. An independent monitor assigned with overseeing the Trump Organization's business practices can also continue her work.
A statement from New York Attorney General Leticia James, who brought the case against Trump in 2022, did not discuss the elimination of the financial penalties and instead focused on the fact that the fraud charges and the limits on Trump doing business in New York again stood.
Trump has maintained his innocence and argued that the case was politically motivated.
“TOTAL VICTORY in the FAKE New York State Attorney General Letitia James Case!” Trump posted in a message on Truth Social that went on to refer to the ruling as "unlawful and disgraceful", “a Political Witch Hunt” and “hurting Business all throughout New York State.”
In February 2024, Trump was ordered to pay fines totaling $354.8M and roughly $100M in interest by a New York judge who found that Trump and his businesses submitted false financial statements inflating their net worth to borrow at lower rates. Some of those exaggerations included values of some of his commercial properties.
That penalty, with interest, has since grown to more than $500M, multiple sources reported.
