NY appeals court throws out $500M penalty against Trump in Letitia James civil case
The court
ruled the disgorgement was an excessive fine that violates the Eighth Amendment
By Michael Dorgan , Maria Paronich Fox
News
Published August 21, 2025 11:26am EDT | Updated August 21, 2025 12:56pm EDT
An appellate court has thrown out the $500 million civil fraud penalty against President Donald Trump in the high-profile case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The New York
Appellate Division overturned the penalty, ruling the disgorgement was an
excessive fine that violates the Eighth Amendment.
The
five-member panel all upheld findings that Trump and his company were liable,
affirming that James acted within her authority and that injunctive relief to
curb Trump Organization practices was appropriate.
DOJ OPENS GRAND JURY INVESTIGATION INTO LETITIA JAMES TIED TO TRUMP CIVIL CASE
The ruling leaves liability intact but eliminates the massive financial penalty of $364 million plus interest, which rises to around $500 million.
Trump took to Truth Social to declare a "total victory" and rail against James and the original trial judge, Arthur Engoron.
"TOTAL
VICTORY in the FAKE New York State Attorney General Letitia James Case!"
Trump wrote.
"I
greatly respect the fact that the Court had the Courage to throw out this
unlawful and disgraceful Decision that was hurting Business all
throughout New York State. Others were afraid to do
business there. The amount, including Interest and Penalties, was over $550
Million Dollars. It was a Political Witch Hunt, in a business sense, the likes
of which no one has ever seen before."
He also blasted the case as election interference, saying it was tried during his 2024 presidential campaign, while praising Justice David Friedman, who issued a partial dissent.
Friedman
blasted James' use of Section 63(12) of New York’s Executive Law, which gives
the state attorney general broad power to pursue civil fraud claims.
He wrote that it was unprecedented and political, giving James "essentially limitless power to prosecute her political enemies."
Friedman
wrote that Trump’s business deals involved sophisticated parties who profited
without harming the public and concluded he would "reverse the judgment
and dismiss the complaint."
"Section
63(12) has never been used in the way it is being used in this case – namely,
to attack successful, private, commercial transactions, negotiated at arm’s
length between highly sophisticated parties fully capable of monitoring and
defending their own interests,"
Friedman wrote. ties to these private transactions profited handsomely from the deals, from which there was no… discernible negative effect on the public interest."
Because the judges were split on liability, the case is now likely headed to New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals.
James, a Democrat elected attorney general in 2018, has long had Trump in her crosshairs. During her campaign she called him an "illegitimate president" and pledged to "use every area of the law" to investigate him and his businesses.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody Ga Tea Party Leader
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