<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/new-york" rel="" target="" title="New York"><span>New York</span></a><span> appeals </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/courts" rel="" target="" title="court"><span>court</span></a><span> has thrown out the massive financial penalty a state judge imposed on US President </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/donald-trump" rel="" target="" title="Donald Trump"><span>Donald Trump</span></a><span>, while narrowly upholding a finding he engaged in fraud by exaggerating his wealth for decades. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The ruling spares Trump from a potential $US500 million ($778 million) </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/fine" rel="" target="" title="fine"><span>fine</span></a><span> but bans him and his two eldest sons from serving in corporate leadership for a few years.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump, in a social media post, claimed "total victory".</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/bassam-hamzy-prison-attack-goulburn-brothers-for-life/34267c3b-3b67-4238-b132-e55efbe26d35"><strong><span>CCTV shows attack on one of NSW's most notorious prisoners</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"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," he wrote.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The decision came seven months after the Republican returned to the White House. A sharply divided panel of five judges in New York's mid-level Appellate Division couldn't agree on many issues raised in Trump's appeal, but a majority said the monetary penalty was "excessive".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>After finding Trump flagrantly padding financial statements that went to lenders and insurers, Judge Arthur Engoron ordered him last year to pay $US355 million in penalties. With interest, the sum has topped $US515 million. Additional penalties levied on some other Trump Organization executives, including Trump's sons Eric and Donald Jr — bring the total to $US527 million ($820 million), with interest.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/donald-trump-update-appeals-court-throws-out-massive-civil-fraud-penalty-against-us-president/1fe65509-274a-499f-a07b-4e9f16fb2dd2" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>An 'excessive' fine</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"While the injunctive relief ordered by the court is well crafted to curb defendants' business culture, the court's disgorgement 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," Judges Dianne T Renwick and Peter H Moulton wrote in one of several opinions shaping the appeals court's ruling.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Engoron's other punishments, upheld by the appeals court, have been on pause during Trump's appeal, and the president was able to hold off collection of the money by posting a $US175 million bond.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The court, which split on the merits of the lawsuit and Engoron's fraud finding, dismissed the penalty in its entirety while also leaving a pathway for an appeal to the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals. Trump and his co-defendants, the judges wrote, can seek to extend the pause on any punishments taking effect.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/jim-chalmers-productivity-roundtable-road-user-charge-tax-reform/19becdd0-fff0-4603-b7dc-92115e2d9cc4"><strong><span>Road user charge, tax reform draw closer</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The panel was sharply divided, issuing 323 pages of concurring and dissenting opinions with no majority. Rather, some judges endorsed parts of their colleagues' findings while denouncing others, enabling the court to rule.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Two judges wrote that they felt New York Attorney-General Letitia James' lawsuit against Trump and his companies was justifiable and that she had proven her case but the penalty was too severe. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>One wrote that James exceeded her legal authority in bringing the suit, saying that if any of Trump's lenders felt cheated, they could have sued him themselves, and none did. One judge wrote that Engoron erred by ruling before the trial began that the attorney-general had proved Trump engaged in fraud.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In his portion of the ruling, Judge David Friedman, who was appointed to the court by Republican Governor George Pataki, was scathing in his criticism of James for bringing the lawsuit.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/rare-trapdoor-spider-seen-in-perth-first-time-in-30-years/b30098ec-3fbd-4d51-8840-b60fdfc1ff99" rel="" target="" title=""><strong><span>Mystery spider discovered in Aussie bushland</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Plainly, her ultimate goal was not 'market hygiene' ... but political hygiene, ending with the derailment of President Trump's political career and the destruction of his real estate business," Friedman wrote. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The voters have obviously rendered a verdict on his political career. This bench today unanimously derails the effort to destroy his business."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The appeals court, the Appellate Division of the state's trial court, took an unusually long time to rule, weighing Trump's appeal for nearly 11 months after oral arguments last autumn (spring in Australia). Normally, appeals are decided in a matter of weeks or a few months.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>James has said Trump engaged in "lying, cheating, and staggering fraud". Her office had no immediate comment after Thursday's decision.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>Claims of politics at play</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump and his co-defendants denied wrongdoing. In a six-minute summation of sorts after a months-long trial, Trump proclaimed in January 2024 he was "an innocent man" and the case was a "fraud on me". The Republican has repeatedly maintained the case and the verdict were political moves by James and Engoron, both Democrats.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump's Justice Department has subpoenaed James for records related to the lawsuit, among other documents, as part of an investigation into whether she violated the president's civil rights. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>James' personal attorney Abbe D Lowell has said investigating the fraud case is "the most blatant and desperate example of this administration carrying out the president's political retribution campaign".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump and his lawyers said his financial statements weren't deceptive, since they came with disclaimers noting they weren't audited. The defense also noted bankers and insurers independently evaluated the numbers, and the loans were repaid.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Despite such discrepancies as tripling the size of his Trump Tower penthouse, he said the financial statements were, if anything, lowball estimates of his fortune.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>During an appellate court hearing last September, Trump's lawyers argued that many of the case's allegations were too old and that James had misused a consumer protection law to sue Trump over private business transactions that were satisfactory to those involved.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>State attorneys said that while Trump insists no one was harmed by the financial statements, his exaggerations led lenders to make riskier loans and that honest borrowers lose out when others game their net worth numbers.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>Legal obstacles</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The civil fraud case was just one of several legal obstacles for Trump as he campaigned, won and segued to a second term as president.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>On January 10, he was sentenced in his criminal hush money case to what's known as an unconditional discharge, leaving his conviction on the books but sparing him jail, probation, a fine or other punishment. He is appealing the conviction.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>And in December, a federal appeals court upheld a jury's finding that Trump sexually abused writer E Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s and later defamed her, affirming a $US5 million judgment against him. The appeals court declined in June to reconsider. Trump still can try to get the Supreme Court to hear his appeal.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump also is appealing a subsequent verdict that requires him to pay Carroll $US83.3 million for additional defamation claims.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em></em><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f"><em><strong><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></strong></em></a><em><strong><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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