Appeals court tosses Trump’s $500m civil fraud penalty
A court of appeal pronounced a penalty of $ 500 million (372 million pounds sterling) that President Donald Trump was ordered to pay during a New York civil fraud trial last year.
Judge Arthur Engoron had ordered Trump to pay the costs to massively inflate the value of the Trump organization properties in order to guarantee favorable loans.
In the decision, the judges of the Appeal Division of the Supreme Court of New York said that even if Trump was responsible for fraud, the fine of almost half a billion of dollars was excessive, which meant that he had violated the protections of the American Constitution against severe sanctions.
In the case, the Engoron judge had ordered Trump to pay a fine of $ 3555 million, but with interest, the sum increased to more than $ 500 million.
In the event that against Trump, his two adult sons and the Trump organization, Judge Engoron also prohibited Trump from serving as a company director or contracting banks in the state for three years.
The appeal panel of five judges was divided on the bottom of the initial trial brought by the prosecutor general of New York Letitia James, who had accused the Trump and his sons of “persistent and repeated fraud”.
