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On Wednesday, representatives of President Donald Trump filed a brief in the New York Court of Appeals, arguing that the court should throw out his liability finding in a $464 million civil fraud case that centered on Trump’s real estate valuations.
The appeal argues that the case had several legal flaws that should have prevented it from being heard in the first place.
“This case should have never been brought, and the judgment cannot stand,” the appeal reads. “This case is extremely unusual; it involves not only reams of improper statements targeting President Trump, his family, and his businesses, but also a decision to apply [New York law] against those targets in a completely unprecedented and unlawful way.”
The appeal is the latest instance of President Donald Trump pushing back against what he has characterized as politically charged lawfare that he endured between his two administrations. It also gives Trump a renewed opportunity to push back against some of the penalties that still apply to him from that verdict.
LETITIA JAMES HAMMERED AFTER NY MEDICAID FRAUD UNIT FUNDING FROZEN OVER INEFFECTIVE ENFORCEMENT
In 2022, New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Trump, alleging 200 instances of fraud. Specifically, her office alleged that Trump had routinely overvalued properties in New York City in order to secure favorable loans or insurance rates in violation of New York Executive Law § 63(12). The provision instructs the attorney general to prosecute cases of repeated fraudulent or illegal acts.
The law defines fraud as “any device, scheme or artifice to defraud and any deception, misrepresentation, concealment, suppression, false pretense, false promise or unconscionable contractual provision.”
Trump was found liable in 2023.
As a result, Trump was required to pay $355 million plus interest in damages and was banned from serving as an officer or director of any New York company for two years. He was also banned from applying for loans from any New York bank or financial institution for three years. Although an intermediate appeals court later vacated the monetary award, Trump’s lawyers argue the underlying liability finding and the remaining restrictions should also be overturned.
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The appeal submitted on Wednesday argues against the verdict along five key lines.
The document argues that Attorney General James lacked the authority to bring the case, noting that the case involves private commercial transactions rather than harm to the public. It also contends that Trump’s valuations reflected subjective estimates that lenders independently evaluated rather than fraudulent misrepresentations.
“The only supposed ‘victims’ here are a handful of ultrasophisticated banks and insurers that have never claimed to be injured, were eager to do business with President Trump and his family, and made over $100 million from these transactions,” the appeal states.
The appeal further argues that the prosecution’s premise of overvaluation is based on the misguided idea that real estate has one objective value — and that deviations from that value must be fraud.
“Under that breathtakingly broad theory, NYAG can second-guess any business transaction in this State on almost any imagined grounds,” the filing reads.
And on the penalties, the appeal argues that the $450 million disgorgement is excessive, unlawful and even unconstitutional.
Finally, the appeal argues that the politically charged nature of the case, on its own, should have been enough to halt its consideration.
“NYAG cannot point to a single Section 63(12) enforcement action against similarly situated developers (or any other type of defendant) based on practices comparable to those alleged here,” the filing states.
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“Ms. James repeatedly called President Trump a ‘criminal’; promised to ‘investigate President Trump and his business transactions,’ ‘review … Trump-related real estate transactions,’ and ‘take on … his business in New York’; and threatened President Trump’s ‘family’ and ‘anyone in his orbit,” the document states.
James’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
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