As Trump appeals $454 million fraud case, NY AG Letitia James fights back

New York Attorney General Letitia James urged an appeals court to uphold the $454 million court judgment against former President Donald Trump for misleading lenders, arguing the award was "supported by overwhelming evidence" of his deception.

James' Wednesday night brief responded to Trump's appeal over the $454 million judgment he and some Trump entities face after Judge Arthur Engoron concluded that he inflated the value of his assets over several years to get better loan and insurance terms. Interest is continuing to grow on that judgment , as well as on about $10 million in liability Engoron imposed against former Trump Organization executive Allen Weisselberg and Trump's sons Eric and Don Jr.

In defending her court victory, James pointed to various ways in which Engoron concluded Trump fraudulently boosted his net worth in his financial statements, from tripling the size of his penthouse to ignoring apartment rent regulations to disregarding deed restrictions on his Mar-a-Lago club.

Perhaps most crucially, James pushed back against two core claims in Trump's appeal – that the loan transactions were victimless, and that it matters.

A victimless offense? NY AG disagrees

Trump argued in his July appeal brief that he didn't violate the New York fraud statute at issue in the case because, even assuming he misvalued his assets, he didn't hurt anyone. He noted, for example, that the Trump Organization repaid Deutsche Bank hundreds of millions of dollars in loans it received after giving the bank Trump's financial statements, which included asset valuations that Engoron concluded were fraudulent.

The financial representations "involved no victims, no complaints, no evidence of causation, no injuries, no losses to any business or consumer, and no impact on any public interest," his lawyers wrote on his behalf.

James shot back that evidence of past harm isn't the only issue because one of the statute's purposes is to stop fraud before it causes harm.

"A core focus of (the statute) has thus always been protecting both the integrity of the marketplace and honest market participants from the risks of misconduct—even if those risks have not yet come to pass," lawyers from her office said.

James also argued that Trump did harm lenders because they offered his business empire better loan terms as a result of his fraud. She noted one Deutsche Bank executive's testimony that getting repaid didn't mean the bank was properly compensated for the risk it took on.

James' office filed the brief hours after the Manhattan-based appeals court scheduled arguments in Trump's appeal for Sept. 26 .

The stakes are large

If Trump loses his appeal, he would have to come up with the hefty judgment in cash or watch James seize his assets.

The Republican presidential nominee has already indicated that would be painful: In March, his lawyers said coming up with a bond of more than $450 million bond to block James from seizing assets during his appeal was a "practical impossibility" unless he engaged in a real estate fire sale that "would inevitably result in massive, irrecoverable losses." The appeals court later reduced the bond to $175 million for him and his co-defendants.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: As Trump appeals $454 million fraud case, NY AG Letitia James fights back