New York Attorney General Letitia James has appealed a court’s ruling that threw out a colossal penalty imposed upon President Trump and his business empire but kept her sprawling civil fraud case against him intact.
Her office filed a notice of appeal Thursday with New York’s highest court, signaling its intention to challenge a midlevel appeals court’s decision that wiped away the roughly $500 million penalty but otherwise affirmed the trial court.
Judges on the state Appellate Division’s First Department issued a deeply fractured decision last month upholding the lower court’s determination that Trump and other defendants, including his eldest sons, conspired to alter his net worth for tax and insurance benefits.
However, the midlevel court called the financial penalty Judge Arthur Engoron, the trial judge, imposed on Trump and his business “excessive.” A bench trial resulted in a $464 million judgment plus interest, which ballooned the total up to $527 million by the time the panel eliminated it.
That consensus was reached despite none of the court’s three opinions garnering majority support, with one pair of judges observing that “a remarkable situation has necessitated a remarkable solution.”
It allowed the case to move along to the Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court.
The brief notice from James’s office does not detail any arguments as to why the decision should be reversed, which will come in future court filings.
Trump and his sons have also appealed the ruling; though, when it first came down, they celebrated it as a “TOTAL VICTORY” and “massive win.” The midlevel appeals court’s ruling also let other penalties stand, including ones barring the president and his sons from serving in top roles at any New York company in the near term.
James’s office brought the case against Trump and his business empire in 2022. It threatened to damage his image as a real estate mogul, vanquish his billionaire status and throw the future of the business that built his fame into uncertainty.
The case also made James one of Trump’s most prominent adversaries. The Justice Department is investigating her office and her personal real estate dealings.
A spokesperson for James’s office had no comment on the filing. The Hill has reached out to Trump’s legal team for comment.