A US court on Thursday threw out the half-billion-dollar penalty in the case against and his company.
But a panel of five judges upheld other punishments, including a lower court’s finding that Trump and Trump Organization executives engaged in fraud.
New York Attorney General Letitia James had sued Trump in 2022, alleging he falsely altered his net worth on key financial statements to receive tax and insurance benefits.
The lawsuit made James one of Trump’s most prominent adversaries.
A New York judge Arthur Engoron last year after holding him liable for fraud. With interest, that sum topped $515 million.
If including additional penalties levied on Trump’s eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, the total balloons to more than $527 million as of Thursday.
Judges say penalty ‘excessive’ but disagree over merits of lawsuit
The court agreed to eliminate the penalty that came with the verdict, writing that the order “which directs that defendants pay nearly half a billion dollars to the State of New York, is an excessive fine that violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution.”
But the panel remained sharply divided on the merits of the lawsuit and Engoron’s fraud finding.
Two judges wrote that they felt New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit against Trump and his companies was justifiable and that