The lawyers of the candidate for the presidency of the United States Donald Trump applied to the appeals court with a request to cancel the decision in the case of civil fraud, according to which the politician must pay $454 million.
Politico writes about it.
Trumpʼs lawyers called the fine decision "flawed" and argued that the judge was "trying to understand basic banking concepts." They argued that the judge had wrongly dismissed the appeals courtʼs statute of limitations.
Trumpʼs defenders also argued that no banks or insurers were harmed by any of the transactions, saying the companies made significant profits.
The Attorney Generalʼs Office says Trumpʼs lawyers are rehashing old arguments.
Politico notes that the verdict in the civil fraud case poses a unique threat to Trump, who has said in court documents that he does not have enough money to satisfy the judgment.
The appeals court has scheduled oral arguments in the case for early September, and it is unclear whether the court will rule on the appeal in time for the November election.
What preceded
The fraud case was initiated in September 2022 by New York Attorney General Letitia James. She accused Trump and the Trump Organization of massively inflating property values and lying about financial statements so they could borrow large sums of money at lucrative interest rates.
In February 2024, the court found Trump guilty of conspiracy to manipulate his wealth and ordered him to pay $350 million in fines plus interest (about $454 million in total). His sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric, who are also involved in the case, were ordered to pay $4 million each, and the former financial director of the Trump Organization Allen Weisselberg was ordered to pay $1 million.
On March 25, the court granted Trump a ten-day delay in filing the appeal bond and reduced it from $464 million to $175 million.
Trump affairs
A total of 91 charges have been brought against Trump in four criminal cases. Among other things, it is about illegal handling of secret documents, an attempt to falsify election results and illegal spending of funds collected for the presidential campaign.
Attorney Smith is investigating an attempt to nullify the 2020 US election that led to the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The investigation concerned, in particular, the nomination of fake voters in states lost by Trump and a campaign to pressure his then-Vice President Mike Pence to nullify the election.
Despite everything, Trump continues his election campaign to participate in the 2024 US presidential election.