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New York attorney general appeals ruling that erased Trump's massive penalty in civil fraud case

/ CBS/AP

New York's attorney general moved Thursday to have the state's highest court reinstate President Trump's staggering civil fraud penalty, appealing a lower-court decision that slashed the potential half-billion-dollar fine to $0.

Attorney General Letitia James' office filed a with the state's Court of Appeals, seeking to reverse the mid-level Appellate Division's ruling last month that the penalty violated the U.S. Constitution's ban on excessive fines.

James, a Democrat, had previously said she would appeal.

Mr. Trump declared "TOTAL VICTORY" after the Appellate Division, First Department wiped away his fine, but the five-judge panel left other punishments in place and narrowly endorsed a trial court's finding that he committed fraud by padding his wealth on financial paperwork given to banks and insurers.

The president filed his own appeal last week, asking the Court of Appeals to throw out those other punishments, which include a multiyear ban on him and his two eldest sons, Eric and Donald Trump Jr., from holding corporate leadership positions in New York.

Those measures have been on hold during the appellate process and the Appellate Division judges said Mr. Trump can seek a court order to extend the pause pending further appeals. The Court of Appeals is the highest court in the Empire State.

James' appeal is the latest twist in a lawsuit she filed against Mr. Trump in 2022, which alleged that he inflated his net worth by billions of dollars on his financial statements and habitually misled banks and others about the value of prized assets, including golf courses, hotels, Trump Tower and his Mar-a-Lago estate.

Closing Arguments Delivered In Trump's Civil Fraud Trial In NYC
Former President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom during his civil fraud trial at New York Supreme Court on Jan. 11, 2024, in New York City.  Jefferson Siegel / Getty Images

After a trial that saw a sometimes testy Mr. Trump take the witness stand, Judge Arthur Engoron ruled last year that James had proven he engaged in a yearslong conspiracy with executives at his company to deceive banks and insurers about his wealth and assets.

Engoron ordered Mr. Trump to pay $355 million — payback of what the judge deemed "ill-gotten gains" from his puffed-up financial statements. That amount soared to more than $527 million, including interest, by the time the Appellate Division ruled.

The five-judge Appellate Division panel was sharply divided on many issues in Mr. Trump's appeal, but a majority said the monetary penalty was "excessive."

"While harm certainly occurred, it was not the cataclysmic harm that can justify a nearly half billion-dollar award," two of the judges wrote.

Katrina Kaufman contributed to this report.

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