Trump boasts ‘total victory’ as court overturns $723 million fine
US President Donald Trump is celebrating a legal triumph after a whopping $US464 million ($723 million) fine for committing fraud was thrown out.
The penalty was imposed in February 2024 when a trial judge found that Trump had fraudulently overstated his wealth and the value of his properties to bolster the family business.
The fine had reportedly grown even higher since then due to $US100million ($156 million) in interest.
The case had been one of Trump’s biggest legal setbacks before his return to the White House.
On Thursday (local time), the massive fine was overturned and labelled “excessive”, but the judgement of fraud against Trump still stands.
Trump declared the decision was a ‘TOTAL VICTORY”, going so far as to claim that it proved he had done nothing wrong, despite the fraud finding against him.
“I greatly respect the fact that the Court had the Courage to throw out this unlawful and disgraceful Decision that was hurting Business all throughout New York State,” he wrote in a lengthy diatribe on Truth Social.
“It was a Political Witch Hunt, in a business sense, the likes of which no one has ever seen before.
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“This was a Case of Election Interference by the City and State trying to show, illegally, that I did things that were wrong when, in fact, everything I did was absolutely CORRECT and, even, PERFECT.”
The decision by the Appellate Division in Manhattan is a defeat for New York Attorney General Letitia James, who Trump labelled a “deranged lunatic” in his post.
During the trial, Trump denied wrongdoing and his lawyers argued that any errors in reporting Trump’s fortune to his lenders and business partners were irrelevant because none was harmed.
Thursday’s decision by the five-judge appeals court was deeply splintered, with some agreeing Trump should be held liable while others called for a new trial or even dismissal.
The appeals court issued approximately 320 pages of opinions.
Two judges found Trump was properly held liable, and James “vindicated a public interest” by suing, but said the penalty was unconstitutionally excessive.
They upheld restrictions imposed against Trump’s businesses.
Two other judges also found James had authority to sue, but a new trial was necessary because of errors by the trial judge.
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The fifth judge said the case should be thrown out.
Judge Peter Moulton said the size of the penalty was “troubling”.
“While harm certainly occurred, it was not the cataclysmic harm that can justify a nearly half billion-dollar award to the state,” he wrote.
James said she would ask the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, to review the case.
“It should not be lost to history: yet another court has ruled that the president violated the law, and that our case has merit,” she added.
Trump was separately convicted in May 2024 on criminal charges in a New York state court in Manhattan stemming from hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, but received no punishment.
The decision came as the US Department of Justice investigates James for possible mortgage fraud.
The probe is part of a White House effort to use the power of government against people who have investigated Trump or resisted his agenda.
In February 2024, Engoron ordered Trump and other defendants to pay $US464.6 million ($723.1 million) in penalties plus interest, which has continued to accrue.
Trump was personally liable for nearly 98 per cent of the judgement, with his eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, and former Trump Organisation chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg responsible for the remainder.
Referring to Trump and other Trump Organisation figures, Engoron said their “complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological”.
Engoron also banned Trump and the Trump Organisation from applying for loans from banks registered in the state for three years, and effectively barred Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump from running the business for two years.
The appeals court put these restrictions on hold during the appeals process, while letting a court-appointed monitor for the Trump Organisation continue her work.
-with AAP
