Appeals Court Throws Out President Trump’s $527 Million Civil Penalty
On Thursday, a New York appeals court threw out a $527 million civil penalty that was levied against President Trump after a New York judge found he exaggerated his wealth to banks and investors for decades.
While the over half-a-billion-dollar fine has been waived, the ruling still bars Trump and his two sons, Eric and Donald Jr., from corporate leadership for several years, according to AP. The panel of five judges couldn’t reach a consensus on many of the issues in President Trump’s appeal, but they all agreed the civil penalty levied against Trump was “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 of the United States Constitution,” Judges Dianne T. Renwick and Peter H. Moulton wrote in one of several legal opinions regarding the appeal. The Eighth Amendment prohibits excessive bail, excessive fines, and cruel and unusual punishments.
“While harm certainly occurred, it was not the cataclysmic harm that can justify a nearly half-billion-dollar award to the state,” Judge Moulton wrote.
In 2022, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against President Trump, alleging he lied to banks and insurers about the size of his wealth and the true value of his various properties. Judge Arthur Engoron ruled last year that Trump was liable for falsifying business records, issuing false financial statements, conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, and conspiracy to falsify business records.
“The frauds found here leap off the page and shock the conscience,” Engoron wrote in his ruling.
Appeals panel Judge David Friedman’s opinion seemed to attack Letitia James for even bringing the lawsuit forth to begin with. “Plainly, her ultimate goal was not ‘market hygiene’ … but political hygiene, ending with the derailment of President Trump’s political career and the destruction of his real estate business,” Friedman wrote. “The voters have obviously rendered a verdict on his political career. This bench today unanimously derails the effort to destroy his business.”
While the panel threw out the civil penalty, they still upheld Judge Engoron’s ruling that Trump engaged in fraud. So if I’m getting this right, the group opinion acknowledges that Trump engaged in fraudulent business practices, but according to Friedman, Letitia James is the real villain for holding him to account?
To quote “Street Fighter III: Third Strike”: Yeah, that makes sense.
President Trump called the ruling a “total victory” in a Truth Social post. “I greatly respect the fact that the Court had the Courage to throw out this unlawful and disgraceful Decision that was hurting Business all throughout New York State,” Trump added.
The Department of Justice under the Trump administration has effectively begun a retaliation campaign against Letitia James because of the fraud lawsuit. The DOJ issued a subpoena to James’ office for documents related to the case, accusing the New York Attorney General of violating Trump’s civil rights. That’s rich, coming from a dude whose whole presidency has been defined by rolling back civil rights protections.
Abbe D. Lowell, James’s attorney, called the DOJ’s investigation “the most blatant and desperate example of this administration carrying out the president’s political retribution campaign.”
President Trump ducking the civil penalty only drives home that being a rich, white man allows you to lie, cheat, steal, and even incite a failed insurrection without any real consequence in America.
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