A $500 million civil fraud judgment against Donald Trump and the Trump Organization was tossed.
A New York appeals court found the penalty excessive.
But the five judges couldn't agree on much else, issuing three opinions that spanned over 300 pages.
A New York appellate court has tossed a massive civil fraud penalty against President Donald Trump and the Trump Organization, granting a significant legal win to the president.
But the judges still agreed that Trump and other Trump Organization executives were largely liable for fraud, leaving open a door for additional appeals.
In February of last year, after a three-month bench trial, a Manhattan judge ordered the Trump Organization, Trump, and a group of other executives to pay $454 million in penalties.
The case was brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who revealed internal Trump Organization documents and witness testimony that demonstrated Trump's decadelong pattern of lying to banks about his worth in order to receive favorable terms for loans.
The penalties have since ballooned to over $500 million with additional interest, as Trump has pursued appeals.
On Thursday, a group of five appellate judges struck down the fines issued by trial judge Arthur Engoron, finding them excessive — but couldn't agree on much else.
They issued three separate opinions spanning 323 pages. Four of the judges broadly agreed that Trump and his real estate company were liable for fraud for misrepresenting their assets.
Otherwise, the three opinions disagreed on significant legal issues underpinning the case, including whether the Trump Organization should be liable for every particular count, whether some of the legal wins Engoron granted were barred by the statute of limitations, and whether James had the authority to bring the lawsuit against Trump in the first place.
After 11 months of deliberation — an unusually long time for the New York appellate court — two judges agreed to join the majority decision "for the sole purpose of ensuring finality, thereby affording the parties a path for appeal" to the state's highest appeals court, one judge wrote.
Representatives for Trump's legal team and for the New York Attorney General's office didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
James's lawsuit alleged that Trump, his eldest sons Donald Trump, Jr. and Eric Trump, former CFO Allen Weisselberg, and comptroller Jeffrey McConney worked together to misrepresent the Trump Organization's finances. The executives inflated the valuations of Trump properties — by, for example, tripling the size of a penthouse on paper — making the Trumps appear wealthier than they seemed. Those falsified valuations were used to obtain favorable terms for loans from financial institutions as the family grew its real estate empire.
New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, the trial judge, found Trump family members liable for some of the counts alleged in the lawsuit ahead of trial, but left other issues to be decided after he heard additional testimony from Trump family members, Trump Organization executives, and bank officials.
The trial, which had no jury, spanned from October 2023 to January 2024 and often took on a carnivalesque air.
During that appeal, no money would change hands. Neither Trump nor James are permitted to touch a $175 million appeal bond that Trump posted in April of last year.
The bond is underwritten by Knight Specialty Insurance Company, and wholly collateralized by Trump's cash. Trump continues to have no access to that cash, court records show.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.
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