N.Y. court erases Trump civil penalty, calls disgorgement excessive

A New York state appeals court on Thursday erased the roughly half billion dollar civil penalty levied against President Donald Trump in a longrunning fraud case, ruling that the disgorgement order was unconstitutionally excessive while largely leaving the underlying finding of fraud intact. The Appellate Division in Manhattan issued a fractured, 323 page set of opinions after nearly 11 months of consideration, delivering a major procedural victory for Trump and paving the way for further appeals to the state’s highest court.

A five judge panel concluded that Judge Arthur Engoron’s 2024 disgorgement award — initially set at about $355 million and which had grown with interest to more than $515 million — amounted to an excessive fine in violation of the Eighth Amendment. Judges Dianne T. Renwick and Peter H. Moulton wrote that while the injunctive relief ordered below was appropriate to curb business practices, the monetary disgorgement was disproportionate. The combined judgments against Trump and other defendants, including his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr., had exceeded $527 million with interest by the time of the appeal.

The appellate court’s decision did not uniformly...