Trump’s $500 million fine declared null and void by court

Washington:(Web News)President Donald Trump is no longer liable for the more than $450 million he had been ordered to pay in the civil fraud case against him and his business associates, as a New York appeals court ruled Thursday that the nine-figure judgment for misstating the value of his assets was “excessive”—without reaching a decision on whether the ruling finding Trump liable for fraud should be overturned.

A panel of New York appeals judges threw out the massive fine levied as part of Engoron’s judgment, which found that Trump and his business associates fraudulently inflated the value of assets in order to obtain better business deals and reflect a higher net worth for Trump.

New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Trump and his co-defendants arguing they had committed fraud by misstating the value of assets, and Engoron agreed, ruling Trump and his business associates, including his sons, knew the numbers they were listing were false and ordering the defendants to pay millions of dollars in fines each.

The judges did not reach a majority on determining whether Trump was correctly found liable for fraud or throw out non-monetary consequences Engoron imposed—like restricting Trump and his associates’ ability to do business in New York—as two judges ruled the fine was excessive but Engoron was correct to find him liable, while other judges took issue with the merits of the initial fraud ruling.

“While harm certainly occurred, it was not the cataclysmic harm that can justify a nearly half billion-dollar award to the State,” judges wrote about the fines levied against Trump and his co-defendants, arguing New York “is not entitled to compound its victory with a massive punitive fine” and that the size of the fine is disproportionate to the amount of money the state lost as a result of the misstated valuations.

The ruling will clear Trump of the massive nine-figure fine he stood to pay in the case, but both parties can still appeal the ruling to New York’s highest state court, keeping the case alive.

James said in a statement she will appeal the court’s ruling and praised the judges for not striking down the non-monetary penalties Engoron ordered, while Trump claimed on Truth Social the ruling was a “TOTAL VICTORY”—even as it didn’t absolve him of the fraud allegations—and thanked the court for “having the Courage to make this Decision.”