Trump lawyers to ask appeals court to toss $489 million civil fraud ruling
CBSN
Lawyers for former President Donald Trump and his company will argue to an appeals panel Thursday that it should throw out a judge's February ruling that Trump must fork over hundreds of millions of dollars in profit obtained through fraud, plus millions more in interest.
In his appeal in July, Trump's lawyers called the judgment "draconian" and said the case violated "the Constitution and the sanctity of the complex commercial marketplace." The judge in the case ordered Trump and his co-defendants to pay the state nearly $364 million in "ill-gotten gains" and interest — from before and after the ruling — that has accrued to more than $120 million.
The office of New York Attorney General Letitia James, which brought the case after a yearslong investigation, said in reply that Trump's team rehashed arguments that were previously rejected. They argued that not only did the judge conclude Trump violated civil statutes, but also "that defendants had engaged in criminal, illegal conduct."
