President Donald Trump’s legal team filed an appeal with the New York Court of Appeals, asking the state to erase the remaining fines levied by state Attorney General Letitia James’s lawsuit against him.
James’s civil fraud lawsuit, and its hefty fines against the president, were thrown out last week. The lawsuit alleged Trump inflated his net worth on financial paperwork given to banks and insurers.
Trump’s lawyers want the rest of the penalties against the president, like the bans it imposed upon him and those around him, also tossed out.
The court last week found the more than $515 million fine against Trump to be “excessive.”
“While the injunctive relief ordered by the court is well crafted to curb defendants’ business culture, the court’s disgorgement order, 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,” Judges Dianne T. Renwick and Peter H. Moulton wrote, according to the Associated Press.
The president celebrated the ruling as a “TOTAL VICTORY” for himself. He said the case was “a Political Witch Hunt” and “a Case of Election Interference.”
James has said she will ask the court to restore the fine.
NEW YORK APPEALS COURT TOSSES LETITIA JAMES’S $515 MILLION TRUMP FRAUD PENALTY
The other penalties on Trump as a result of the original ruling included: a two-year ban on Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr. from serving as a director or officer of a New York company, a three-year ban on Trump holding a corporate leadership position in New York, and a three-year ban on Trump and his companies from getting loans from banks registered in New York.
It also placed Trump’s company under the supervision of an independent monitor for at least three years. All of the measures are on hold while the case is finding an ultimate conclusion through the appellate process. Judges have said Trump can extend the pause pending more appeals.
