Letitia James seeks to reverse appeals court’s decision to wipe away president’s penalty in financial fraud case
New York’s attorney general has requested the state’s highest court reinstate Donald Trump’s large civil fraud penalty, appealing a lower-court decision that slashed the potential half-billion dollar penalty to nothing.
Attorney general Letitia James’s office filed a notice of appeal with the state’s court of appeals, seeking to reverse the mid-level appellate division’s ruling last month that the penalty violated the US constitution’s ban on excessive fines.
James, a Democrat, had previously said she would appeal.
Trump, the US president, declared “TOTAL VICTORY” after the appellate division wiped away his fine, but the five-judge panel left other punishments in place and narrowly endorsed a trial court’s finding that he committed fraud by padding his wealth on financial paperwork given to banks and insurers.
