President Donald Trump eked out yet another personal victory on Thursday, when a New York appellate court concluded his half-billion-dollar fine for committing bank fraud was just too much.
While the state appellate judges were at odds about much of the case, they did agree on one thing: Trump no longer owes nearly $500 million in fines that, at the time they were issued, threatened to hurt his family company and its real estate empire. The case was brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, and the president has repeatedly derided it as a “witch hunt.”
Several judges on the panel from the New York Appellate Division’s First Judicial Department did conclude that Trump and his family had “persistently and intentionally inflated the asset values” of their real estate holdings and properties to unfairly obtain bank loans and insurance policies, and did not overturn the ruling. Trump could appeal the bank fraud finding, which would send the case to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals — putting it on a federal track headed for the Supreme Court.