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Divided court eliminates Trump’s half-billion-dollar fine in fraud case

Former President Donald Trump speaks to reporters outside the courtroom during a break in his civil fraud trial at the State Supreme Court building in Manhattan, Oct. 18, 2023. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)
By Ben Protess and </p><p>Jonah E. Bromwich New York Times

NEW YORK – A New York appeals court on Thursday threw out a half-billion dollar judgment against President Donald Trump, eliminating the enormous financial penalty while declining to overturn the fraud case against him.

“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 whose lengthy and convoluted ruling reflected significant disagreement among the five-judge panel.

The president’s appeal will now most likely move to New York’s highest court, providing him another opportunity to challenge the finding that he was a fraudster.

Thursday’s ruling handed Trump a financial victory and represents a major setback for New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is one of the president’s foremost adversaries. The case had been a career-defining victory after she campaigned for the attorney general’s office promising to bring Trump to justice.

However, the decision fell short of the legal vindication the president had been seeking in his fight against James. In denying Trump’s bid to throw out the case, the court kept in place the ruling that he had committed fraud, an ignominious distinction for a sitting American president.

James filed the case against Trump and his family real estate business in 2022, accusing them of inflating his net worth to obtain favorable loan terms. After a monthslong trial, the judge overseeing the case ruled last year that Trump was liable for fraud, denting the real estate mogul image that underpinned his political rise.

Thursday’s ruling came almost a year after judges heard oral arguments on the appeals case, an unusual delay that reflected the legal and political complexities of a case against a sitting president. The case infuriated Trump, who has sought revenge against James. His Justice Department has opened multiple cases into her and her office.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.