(NEW YORK) — New York Attorney General Letitia James sent formal notice Thursday that her office will appeal a decision last month that threw out the half billion-dollar civil fraud penalty imposed on President Donald Trump in his civil fraud case.
The attorney general’s office filed a notice of appeal, signaling it will ask the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, to reinstate the penalty and the finding that Trump, his eldest sons and his business were liable for a decade’s worth of business fraud.
The single-page notice contained no argument and did not say on what grounds the state would base its appeal of the decision by the intermediate appellate court.
Last month’s decision was expected to end up before the Court of Appeals since the five judges of the Appellate Division’s First Department were split over whether Trump was properly found liable, whether James had the authority to bring the case, and whether it should be retried.
After a three-month civil trial last year, New York Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump liable for committing a decade of business fraud by inflating his net worth to secure better business deals.
In his written decision, Engoron said that Trump and his co-defendants engaged in frauds that “leap off the page and shock the conscience” including wrongly claiming that Trump’s penthouse was three times its actual size and valuing his Mar-a-Lago estate as a personal residence, rather than a social club.
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