On Truth Social, Trump hailed the appellate decision as “A GREAT WIN FOR AMERICA!!!”
James sued Trump and his sprawling real estate company in September 2022, more than two years before his successful bid to retake the White House.
An aerial view Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.Credit: nnaadvidler
She won after an 11-week trial in which she presented extensive evidence that Trump inflated the value of assets – including his Florida club and Trump Tower penthouse on Fifth Avenue – for years to get better terms on loans.
The conduct saved Trump millions of dollars in lower interest rates, which the state sought to claw back.
Trump argued that his method of valuing his real estate was typical of the industry and that disclaimers on his financial statements advised banks they should do their own valuations anyway. One of his biggest defence arguments was that no banks lost money on his loans, and the state didn’t dispute that.
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One of the five judges who issued Thursday’s ruling dissented from the others and said the verdict should have been thrown out along with penalty.
Justice David Friedman accused James, a Democrat, of bringing the case for “partisan political motives” in the hopes of destroying both the Republican president’s political career and his real estate business.
“The voters have obviously rendered a verdict on his political career,” Friedman wrote. “This bench today unanimously derails the effort to destroy his business.”
Two other judges on the panel suggested that James’ case was weak, but agreed on Trump’s liability solely for the purpose of allowing the court to issue a final decision the president can appeal.
The ruling puts fresh pressure on James, who has become the focus of a federal probe into whether her lawsuit violated Trump’s legal rights.
Trump Tower in New York.Credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images
On August 8, people familiar with the federal probe into James’ case against Trump said Justice Department officials had convened a grand jury in Albany, New York, and sent subpoenas to James’ office. The subpoena also seeks information on James’ case against the National Rifle Association, said one of the people. The state attorney general won a court case last year accusing the gun-rights group of misusing donor funds.
Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for James, has said the investigation was a “blatant and desperate example of this administration carrying out the president’s political retribution campaign”.
Trump has long criticised James and Engoron, who oversaw the non-jury trial, calling both of them politically biased against him.
Trump has also appealed his conviction in the hush-money case, seeking to erase his criminal record.
He has also appealed two civil jury verdicts against him in lawsuits brought by New York writer E. Jean Carroll, who claims Trump raped her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s. She sued him for sex abuse and defamation and won nearly $90 million in total damages. Trump has consistently denied Carroll’s allegations.
Bloomberg, AP
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