Appeals court throws out Trump's $500m civil fraud penalty

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

56% : In a post on his social media site, Truth Social, Trump claimed the decision was a "total victory".
48% : Trump had said that the case brought by James, a Democrat, was politically motivated.
44% : Judge Arthur Engoron had ordered Trump to pay the fee for massively inflating the value of the Trump Organisation's properties in order to secure favourable loans.
43% : In the case, Judge Engoron had ordered Trump to pay $355m, but with interest, that grew to more than $500m. "While harm certainly occurred, it was not the cataclysmic harm that can justify a nearly half-billion-dollar award to the state," wrote Judge Peter Moulton.
41% : "It's hard to take any conclusions from this ... except that we'll have to continue to wait that much longer to find out the ultimate outcome in James v Trump.
35% : In a statement, the attorney general's office said the judges "affirmed the well-supported finding of the trial court: Donald Trump, his company, and two of his children are liable for fraud".
26% : " In September 2023, Judge Engoron ruled Trump was liable for business fraud, finding he had misrepresented his wealth by hundreds of millions of dollars.
24% : In the lengthy ruling released on Thursday, judges on the New York Supreme Court's Appellate Division stated that while Trump was liable for the fraud, the fine of nearly half a billion dollars was excessive and probably violated constitutional protections against severe punishment.
21% : They were primarily divided over the merits of the original lawsuit brought by Letitia James, who had accused Trump and his sons of "persistent and repeated fraud".
20% : " The New York Attorney General's Office, which brought the case against Trump, also framed the decision as a win, as it upheld Trump's fraud liability and the judges did not throw out other penalties that were not financial.
4% : In the case against Trump, his two adult sons, and the Trump Organization, Judge Engoron also banned Trump from serving as a company director or taking out loans from banks in the state for three years.

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