Trump Makes Appeal to Toss Out $454M Fraud Case Judgment

Attorneys for Donald Trump and his company last Monday formally appealed the judge’s ruling in the civil fraud case brought by New York State.

Judge Arthur Engoron in February ordered Trump and the Trump organization to pay New York $454 million for deceiving financial institutions and insurance companies about Trump’s wealth to obtain favorable terms.

In an appeal filed on July 22, Trump’s legal team argued that the “draconian” judgment violated “centuries of New York case law.”

The appeal rehashes many of the same arguments the defense repeatedly brought up last year during the trial. Trump’s attorneys insisted that Attorney General Letitia James’ allegations were far outside the statute of limitations and reiterated that the deals resulted in “no victims and no losses.”

Trump’s attorneys also rehashed their claim that Attorney General James did not have legal standing to bring the civil suit against the former president and the Trump organization in the first place.

Christopher Kise, Trump’s lead attorney in the case, said in a statement that the appeal sought to reverse Judge Engoron’s “legally bereft decisions,” which Wise claimed “ignored the undisputed facts.”

Kise accused the judge of allowing the “reckless” and “politically motivated” Attorney General James to “meddle” in transactions that were “lawful, private, and mutually profitable.”

A spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office noted in a statement last Monday that Judge Engoron previously sanctioned five of Trump’s attorneys and fined them $7,500 each for continuing to make the same “frivolous arguments” in court after the judge rejected them “multiple times.”

The spokesperson noted that the Attorney General’s Office won the case “based on the facts and the law” and said that it was “confident” that it would also win the appeal.

The Attorney General’s Office will likely file its response to the appeal in August, with the New York appellate court expected to consider the case during the fall term.