President Trump has appealed a New York court’s ruling that kept the sprawling civil fraud case against him intact, despite tossing out the roughly $500 million penalty imposed upon him and his business empire.
His lawyers on Tuesday filed a notice of appeal with New York’s highest court, signaling their intention to challenge much of a midlevel appeals court’s decision that affirms the judgment of the trial court.
Judges on the state Appellate Division’s First Department issued a deeply divided decision upholding the lower court’s finding that Trump, his eldest sons and another executive conspired to alter his net worth for tax and insurance benefits.
They erased the “excessive” financial penalty Judge Arthur Engoron, the trial judge, imposed on the president and his business but allowed other penalties, including ones barring Trump and his sons from serving in top roles at any New York company in the near term, to stand.
The five-judge panel reached that consensus despite none of the court’s three opinions garnering majority support. Two judges said Engoron’s findings at the trial level were warranted, two would have ordered a new trial and the fifth judge voted to toss the case altogether.
The judges expressed an interest in passing the case along to the Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court.
“A remarkable situation has necessitated a remarkable solution,” reads the opinion by Judges John Higgitt and Llinét Rosado, who joined two other judges to form a majority in signing the court’s “decretal” — its bottom-line order affirming Engoron’s underlying findings.
Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, also appealed.
After the appeals panel handed down its decision, the Trump family celebrated by calling it a “TOTAL VICTORY” and “massive win.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James brought the case against President Trump in 2022, turning her into one of his most prominent adversaries. It threatened to mar his real estate mogul image, vanquish his billionaire status and imperil the future of the business that built his fame.
A bench trial resulted in a $464 million judgment against Trump and his business, plus interest that ballooned the total up to $527 million as of last week, when the panel wiped it away.
James has also vowed to appeal the midlevel court’s ruling, which dealt her case a stark blow. She emphasized last week that “yet another court” had ruled “that the president violated the law, and that our case has merit.” Her office declined to comment.
The Hill requested comment from Trump’s lawyers.
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