A New York state appeals court on Thursday threw out a more than $500 million civil business fraud penalty imposed on President Donald Trump and other defendants in connection with a lawsuit by state Attorney General Letitia James.
The appeals court said that the penalty, “which directs that defendants pay nearly half a billion dollars to the State of New York, is an excessive fine that violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution.”
However, the court in the same ruling said that other non-monetary sanctions imposed by a Manhattan Supreme Court judge on Trump, the Trump Organization, and other defendants were “well crafted to curb defendants’ business culture.”
The ruling, which James said she would appeal to the state’s highest court, was issued by the First Judicial Department of the Appellate Division of New York Supreme Court.
In a concurring opinion with the decision, Judge Peter Moulton wrote that James “did not carry her initial burden” of establishing the rough total of the profits “causally connected” to the defendants’ violations.
“Indeed, the calculation of the disgorgement in this case was far from a reasonable approximation,” Moulton wrote.
Trump crowed about the ruling in a post on Truth Social.
“TOTAL VICTORY in the FAKE New York State Attorney General Letitia James Case!” Trump wrote.
“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,” the president said.
“Others were afraid to do business there. The amount, including Interest and Penalties, was over $550 Million Dollars. It was a Political Witch Hunt, in a business sense, the likes of which no one has ever seen before.”
Eric Trump, the president’s son, and one of the defendants in the lawsuit, in a social media post, wrote, “Total victory in the sham NY Attorney General case!!! After 5 years of hell, justice prevailed!”
Eric Trump, with his brother Donald Trump Jr., operates the Trump Organization.
James, in a statement, said she would ask the New York Court of Appeals to overturn the ruling tossing out the fine on Trump and the others.
James also said, “The First Department today affirmed the well-supported finding of the trial court: Donald Trump, his company, and two of his children are liable for fraud.
“The court upheld the injunctive relief we won, limiting Donald Trump and the Trump Organization officers’ ability to do business in New York,” James said.
“It should not be lost to history: yet another court has ruled that the president violated the law, and that our case has merit.”
Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron in February 2024 ordered Trump to pay around $454 million in total penalties after holding him liable for business fraud.
Engoron found that Trump’s statements of financial condition, signed between 2014 and 2021, overvalued his assets from between $812 million and $2.2 billion.
With interest, the penalty imposed on Trump and other defendants in the case has grown to more than $500 million.