July 23 (UPI) — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump filed an appeal Monday against his $454 million New York civil fraud judgment on the grounds that it was excessive and unconstitutional.
“The award of $464 million in a case with no victims, no proven injuries and no losses is not remotely defensible,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in their appeal, adding that the additional $10 million relates to other defendants in the case.
New York State Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump, his sons — Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump — and their real estate business liable for fraud in February for deceiving banks and insurers by inflating Trump’s wealth on financial statements to obtain favorable loans.
According to Engoron, Trump and his company received $354 million in “ill-gotten” gains and ruled they must reimburse the state with interest of $100 million. Trump, who is the Republican nominee for president of the United States, was also banned from doing any business in New York for three years.
Trump’s attorneys argued Monday that the large judgment was unconstitutional and excessive because it was outside of the statute of limitations.
“Applying the correct statute of limitations eliminates $350,980,057 of the $464,576,229 judgment for the Appellants bound by the Tolling Agreement, and it eliminates all of the judgment for those not bound by the Tolling Agreement, including the Trust and the individual Appellant,” they wrote.
“The monetary award is a punitive penalty imposed for retributive and deterrent purposes,” Trump’s lawyers argued. “It is both grossly disproportional under the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause and grossly excessive under the Due Process Clauses.”
Trump attorney Christopher Kise argued that the judge “willingly allowed a reckless, politically motivated attorney general to meddle in lawful, private and mutually profitable transactions,” according to a statement that claims the allegations by New York Attorney General Letitia James revolved around deals with “no victims and no losses” and were pulled from outside of the statute of limitations.
“Such an outrageous miscarriage of justice is profoundly un-American, and a complete reversal is the only means available to restore public confidence in the integrity of the New York judicial system,” Kise added.
A spokesperson for James responded to the appeal Monday night.
“Once again, the defendants are raising arguments that they were already sanctioned and fined for. We won this case based on the facts and the law, and we are confident we will prevail on appeal.”
The appeals court could take up the case as early as September.