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‘Total victory’: Trump after US court quashes $464 million civil penalty against him
The penalty on the US President had been imposed by Judge Arthur Engoron, who had found that Trump had fraudulently inflated his personal wealth.
United States President Donald Trump called a US court verdict quashing a $464 million civil penalty against him a “total victory” on Thursday.
The penalty on the US President had been imposed by a judge who found that Trump had fraudulently inflated his personal wealth.
Judge Arthur Engoron had ruled against Trump in February 2024, during the launch of his campaign for the presidential elections, AFP reported. There were several active criminal prosecutions filed against Trump at the same time, with the Republic terming these as “lawfare”.
In the initial ruling against Trump, Engoron ordered the US President to pay a civil penalty of $464 million, including interest. The ruling also ordered his sons Eric and Don Jr. to pay more than $4 million each.
The judge found that Trump and his company had fraudulently inflated his wealth, manipulating the value of their properties to get bank loans or insurance terms in their favour, according to AFP.
In the ruling, Engoron also banned Trump from running businesses for three years. A US Appeals court on Thursday upheld the earlier verdict, but called the fine “excessive”, adding that it violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
‘Political witch hunt,' says Trump after Appeals court verdict
While hailing “total victory” after the civil penalty was quashed, Trump called the earlier court ruling a “political witch hunt".
“It was a Political Witch Hunt, in a business sense, the likes of which no one has ever seen before. This was a Case of Election Interference by the City and State trying to show, illegally, that I did things that were wrong when, in fact, everything I did was absolutely CORRECT and, even, PERFECT,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
He further called the initial verdict a “FAKE New York State Attorney General Letitia James Case”.
Trump said that he respected the “courage” shown by the US court in throwing out the “unlawful and disgraceful Decision that was hurting Business all throughout New York State.” “Others were afraid to do business there. The amount, including Interest and Penalties, was over $550 Million Dollars,” the US President said.
In his post, Trump referred to Engoron as “incompetent”, while calling Attorney General Letitia James “corrupt”. “They made me bond the outrageous sum, which never happened before, and which cost me Millions of Dollars a month. It should have never been allowed to happen, and everyone knew it! Importantly, the Vote was 5 to 0,” Trump said.
