by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News August 21, 2025
The $515 million fraud judgment against President Donald Trump is unconstitutional and violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibitions on excessive fines, a five-judge panel of a New York appellate court ruled on Thursday.
Judge Art Engoron originally imposed a $355 million penalty as part of New York Attorney General Letitia James’s civil fraud lawfare pursuit of Trump. Other interest assessments led the figure to balloon to more than half a billion dollars by August.
In Thursday’s ruling, Judge David Friedman slammed James for bringing the lawsuit against Trump:
“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. “The voters have obviously rendered a verdict on his political career. This bench today unanimously derails the effort to destroy his business.”
Trump, in a social media post, claimed “total victory.”
“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 on Truth Social.
James accused Trump of manipulating the value of his assets to secure favorable loan terms and lower insurance premiums.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing, though Engoron ruled for James in the bench trial.
“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 three opinions shaping the appeals court’s ruling.
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.
Appeals court throws out $515 million judgement against Trump in NY fraud case added by Editor Two on
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