The former president is readying an appeal of the $355 million verdict.
A lawyer representing former President Donald Trump said that his team will challenge a New York judge’s decision last week, targeting the judge’s definition of what fraud is.
Last Friday, Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that the former president is liable for a $355 million fine and cannot operate his Trump Organization in New York state for three years.
“The case raises serious legal and constitutional questions regarding ‘fraud’ claims/findings without any actual fraud,” Chris Kise, the former lawyer in the case, told Newsweek on Monday.
Regarding the appeal of the cause, the lawyer said that it “will depend on many factors so it’s hard to say at the moment, but in any event, it will fall within the 30-day clock” under the court’s rules.
In 2022, New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, filed a lawsuit against the former president, his two sons Eric and Donald Jr, the Trump Organization, and several other individuals. Weeks before the trial started, Judge Engoron ruled that President Trump inflated his assets to get better loans.
Other than the judgment against President Trump, the judge wrote that sons Donald Jr. and Eric have to pay $4 million each and are also banned from doing business in New York state for two years. Two executives at the company, Allen Weisselberg and Jeff McConney, were barred from serving as a company officer for three years.
“This is a venial sin, not a mortal sin,” Judge Engoron wrote. “They did not rob a bank at gunpoint. Donald Trump is not Bernard Madoff. Yet, defendants are incapable of admitting the error of their ways.”
He said their “complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological” and “the frauds found here leap off the page and shock the conscience.”
The defendants in the case, including President Trump, said they were innocent and asserted that the judge and Ms. James are acting in a politically motivated manner to target the former president, who is currently the Republican 2024 presidential frontrunner, according to numerous polls.
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