Donald Trump will no longer need to pay a $464 million fraud penalty he was ordered to dish over last year.
A New York appeals court struck down the ‘excessive’ penalty on Thursday, but upheld his liability in the civil case claiming he enriched himself through fraudulent asset valuation.
The 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.
But 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.
But it immediately wipes clean one of the president’s biggest outstanding financial liabilities.
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.
President Donald Trump secure a nearly $500 million victory when an appeals court ruled he does not have to pay the penalty in his New York fraud case. Pictured: Trump speaks alongside his then-attorney Alina Habba outside the court room in NYC on January 11, 2024
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.
Protesters outside Trump tower in Manhattan on May 31, 2024 celebrate Trump’s guilty conviction in the Stormy Daniels hush-money case
