Trump Appeals $454 Million Fraud Judgment, Saying It Was Excessive

NEW YORK — Lawyers for Donald Trump filed an appeal Monday evening seeking to dismiss or drastically reduce the $454 million judgment levied against him this year in a New York civil fraud case, the latest maneuver in the former president’s multiple legal battles.

The filing made a raft of arguments questioning the judgment handed down in February by Justice Arthur Engoron, who found that Trump had conspired to manipulate his net worth and lied about the value of his properties to receive more favorable terms on loans.

The suit was brought by Attorney General Letitia James of New York, a Democrat, who hailed her victory over Trump as having demonstrated that “there cannot be different rules for different people in this country.”

In their lengthy appeal to the 1st Department of the State Supreme Court’s Appellate Division, however, Trump’s lawyers argued that many of the deals in question in James’ suit had occurred long ago and that the statute of limitations for violations it cited had run out.

They also questioned the size of the judgment awarded by Engoron, calling it disproportionate and suggesting that the judge had overcounted damages and miscalculated the profits from some of the properties named in James’ suit.

Taken as a whole, the appeal — peppered with talking points from Trump’s campaign and his public criticism of the case — seeks to show that the former president’s dealings were business as usual, and that no harm was caused.

“There were no victims and no losses,” the appeal reads, adding that Trump’s business partners had “raved internally about their business with him and were eager for more.”

If, it added, Trump’s actions constituted fraud, “then that word has no meaning,” and the attorney general’s “power to seize and destroy private businesses is boundless — and standardless.”

In a statement, James’ office said the defendants were raising arguments that had already been decided in the prosecution’s favor, and predicted a legal victory.

“We won this case based on the facts and the law, and we are confident we will prevail on appeal,” the statement said.

The attorney general’s legal response to the filing is expected next month, and the appeals court will hear oral arguments in the fall, even as the nation weighs whether to reelect Trump president. A decision could come before the end of the year.

The 1st Department has considered the issue of the statute of limitations before, and allowed the case against Trump to continue while dismissing a case against his daughter Ivanka.

The appeal is Trump’s latest attempt to avoid a potential nine-figure payout that could dent his political and personal image as a successful billionaire.

If Trump were forced to pay the entire judgment, it could wipe out his cash reserves, though he may soon also come into a multibillion-dollar windfall as a result of his stake in his social media company, Truth Social. Trump was also ordered in January to pay nearly $84 million in damages after a jury found he had defamed E. Jean Carroll, the writer whom he was earlier found liable of sexually abusing and defaming. In that earlier decision, in 2023, another jury awarded $5 million to Carroll.

Trump had scrambled to find a bond company willing to promise the money for the civil fraud judgment as he appealed it, raising the prospect that he could lose control over his bank accounts or James could seize one of his namesake properties. (A bond is a legal document from an outside company agreeing to pay at least some the judgment if Trump were to lose the appeal and fail to pay.)

The former president’s lawyers had called getting a bond for the full $454 million judgment a “practical impossibility.” But Trump received a reprieve in March, when a New York appeals court allowed him to post a smaller bond of $175 million. He was able to secure a bond from a California company that handles such deals shortly thereafter.

The former president’s legal travails, including his conviction in late May on 34 felony counts in New York state court in Manhattan, have continued as he seeks a second term. Trump, 78, accepted the Republican Party’s nomination last week, days after an assassination attempt.

The Manhattan case is likely to be the only one of his four criminal cases that will have been adjudicated by Election Day. Last week, a federal judge in Florida threw out all of the charges against Trump in a case involving his handling of classified documents, handing him a victory as the Republican National Convention began. Jack Smith, the special counsel who filed the indictment, has said he will appeal to a higher federal court.

Two other cases, including a state case in Georgia involving election interference and a federal case involving the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, face uncertain timetables.

Trump’s sentencing in the Manhattan case, originally scheduled for July 11, was delayed until Sept. 18 after the state judge who oversaw the trial, Justice Juan M. Merchan, said he would consider whether a recent Supreme Court ruling granting the president broad immunity for official acts might imperil Trump’s conviction.

Trump, who was convicted of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal that could have derailed his 2016 campaign, faces up to four years in prison for his crimes. (He could receive probation instead.)

In the civil suit brought by James, Engoron imposed a penalty of nearly $355 million plus interest, bringing the total amount to more than $450 million. That interest has only grown as the months have passed.

In a statement Monday, a lawyer for Trump, Christopher Kise, called the former president “a visionary and iconic real estate titan who has been baselessly pursued and persecuted” by James, echoing language in the appeal.

“Such an outrageous miscarriage of justice is profoundly un-American,” Kise said. “And a complete reversal is the only means available to restore public confidence.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times .