A judge’s February ruling that found former President Donald Trump and his company guilty Hundreds of millions of dollars in fraud should be dismissed, Trump’s lawyers said in an appeal filed Monday.
Trump’s lawyers have called the $454 million judgment “draconian” and complained that “the case violates centuries of New York State jurisprudence.”
Judge Arthur Engoron found that Trump, his company and its top executives, including his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr., deceived banks and insurers for years, inflating Trump’s wealth in financial statements to obtain favorable settlement terms they would not have otherwise received.
Engoron concluded that the Trumps and their company benefited from $354 million in “ill-gotten gains” from the scheme, and ruled that they must pay the state that amount plus interest of about $100 million.
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In their appeal Monday, Trump’s lawyers repeated arguments they have made frequently during the more than two-month 2023 trial. They said the allegations made by Letitia James, New York Attorney General The cases in question took place outside the limitation period and involved transactions that had “resulted in no casualties or losses.”
“This appeal seeks to overturn the trial court’s legally flawed decisions that ignored undisputed facts,” Trump attorney Christopher Kise said in a statement to CBS News.
Kise added that Engoron “willfully allowed a reckless and politically motivated attorney general to interfere in legal, private and mutually beneficial transactions.”
Trump’s lawyers also made a claim they have been arguing since before the trial, writing that James’ office lacked standing under New York law to bring the 2022 lawsuit against Trump and his company that led to the fraud finding.
Engoron fined five Trump lawyers $7,500 each in September 2023 for “repeating these frivolous arguments” after they were repeatedly rejected by the courts.
A spokesman for James highlighted the fines when responding to the call Monday evening.
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“Once again, the defendants are raising arguments for which they have already been sanctioned and fined. We have won this case on the facts and the law, and we are confident that we will prevail on appeal,” the spokesperson said.
In February, Engoron issued a scathing ruling against Trump and his company, writing that “the complete lack of contrition and remorse by Trump and the other defendants borders on pathology.”
“They are only accused of inflating the value of the assets to make more money. The documents prove this time and time again.”
Trump testified at the trial that if estimates of his assets or fortune were wrong, it was because they were actually undervalued. He also blamed his accountants for misleading the financial statements at the heart of the case.
Engloron concluded Trump and his company provided accountants with “patently false financial data.”
“When confronted with the defendants’ statements at trial, fact witnesses and experts simply denied reality, and the defendants failed to accept responsibility or impose internal controls to prevent future recurrences,” Engoron wrote.
He said the fraud in the case “is stark and shocks the conscience.”
James’ office is expected to respond to the appeal in August, and an appeals court will consider the case during its fall session.
