New York appeals court throws out $464m civil fraud penalty against Donald Trump

A US court on Thursday threw out a $464 million civil penalty against President Donald Trump imposed by a judge who found he fraudulently inflated his personal worth, calling the sum "excessive" but upholding the judgment against him.

Five judges of the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court said the fine "violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution", which prohibits excessive or cruel punishments and penalties.

The panel was sharply divided, issuing 323 pages of concurring and dissenting opinions with no majority. Rather, some judges endorsed parts of their colleagues' findings while denouncing others, enabling the court to rule.

Judge Arthur Engoron ruled against Mr Trump in February last year at the height of his campaign to retake the White House, which coincided with several active criminal prosecutions that the Republican slammed as "lawfare".

Mr Trump celebrated the Thursday decision, calling the case a "political witch hunt".

"A great win for America," he wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform. In a subsequent post, he wrote: "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."

When Mr Engoron originally ruled against Mr Trump, he ordered the mogul-turned-politician to pay $464 million, including interest, while his sons Eric and Don Jr were told to hand over more than $4 million each.

The judge found that Mr Trump and his company had unlawfully inflated his wealth and manipulated the value of properties to obtain favourable bank loans or insurance terms.

Mr Engoron’s other punishments, upheld by the appeals court, have been on pause during Mr Trump’s appeal, and the President was able to hold off collection of the money by posting a $175 million bond.

Alongside the financial hit to Mr Trump, the judge also banned him from running businesses for three years, which the President repeatedly referred to as a "corporate death penalty".

State Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the initial case, can now appeal to the state's highest court, the New York Court of Appeals.

“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," one of the judges, appointed by a Republican governor to the bench, wrote. "The voters have obviously rendered a verdict on his political career. This bench today unanimously derails the effort to destroy his business.”

The civil fraud case was just one of several legal obstacles for Mr Trump as he campaigned, won and segued to a second term as president.

On January 10, he was sentenced in his criminal hush-money case to what’s known as an unconditional discharge, leaving his conviction on the books but sparing him jail, probation, a fine or other punishment. He is appealing the conviction.

And in December, a federal appeals court upheld a jury’s finding that Mr Trump sexually abused writer E Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s and later defamed her, affirming a $5 million judgment against him. The appeals court declined in June to reconsider. Mr Trump still can try to get the Supreme Court to hear his appeal.

The President is also appealing a subsequent verdict that requires him to pay Ms Carroll $83.3 million for additional defamation claims.