Donald Trump will no longer need to pay a $464 million fraud penalty he was ordered to dish over last year after being found liable for inflating his assets by billions of dollars.
A New York appeals court said Thursday that the millions Trump was ordered to pay was an ‘excessive’ penalty and should be tossed.
It comes over a year and a half after a five-judge panel said Trump, his sons and business associates broke the law by misrepresenting the worth of their assets to secure better business deals.
Alina Habba, who was by Trump’s side during the trial and later appointed interim Attorney of New Jersey, said the ruling confirms the case was ‘politically motivated, legally baseless, and grossly excessive.’
Thursday’s ruling puts fresh pressure on New York Attorney General and Trump foe Letitia James amid questions over whether her lawsuit violated the president’s legal rights.
Earlier this month, the Justice Department convened a grand jury in Albany, New York and sent subpoenas to James’ office in relation to a federal probe into her lawsuit against Trump, those familiar told Bloomberg.
Last February, Manhattan Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that Trump illegally enriched himself for decades by inflating the value of his assets on financial documents with the intent of securing better loan terms and enriching himself.
Trump was found guilty of fraud, insurance fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, falsifying business records and issuing false financial statements. All of which landed him a hefty financial penalty.
He appealed the decision.
While the new ruling maintains that Trump, his sons and his company broke the law, it immediately wipes clean one of the president’s biggest outstanding financial liabilities as most of his legal woes dissipated in the months after his reelection.
The total amount ordered to be paid on February 16, 2024 was $354.9 million, but the interest accrued at a rate of more than $110,000 per day – putting the total wiped clean at nearly $500 million.
Trump’s son Eric wrote on X moments after news of the ruling broke: ‘Total victory in the sham NY Attorney General case!!! After 5 years of hell, justice prevailed!’
Thursday’s decision was handed down by a five-judge panel, deciding to toss out the massive fine while still maintaining the charge.
The case against Trump was initiated by AG James in September 2022 after a three year investigation into the Trump Organization’s business practices.
The lawsuit alleged that the president, his adult sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and their company misrepresented the value of assets to gain favorable loan conditions and tax breaks.
One example of this was Trump overstating by hundreds of millions of dollars on his financial statements the value of his Florida property Mar-a-Lago and Manhattan property Trump Tower.
James’ office argued that the practices were not rare errors, but part of a decade-long pattern of deceptive behavior by Trump and his family and business starting in 2011.
But Trump says his method of real estate asset valuation was industry standard and that disclaimers advised banks to do their own valuations.
In fact, New York did not dispute his claims that no banks lost money on his loans.
