Appeals court 'skeptical' of Trump’s civil fraud conviction: reports

A New York appeals court five-judge panel appeared “skeptical” of the civil fraud verdict in the case charging Donald Trump, his company, some family members, and his Chief Financial Officer falsely overvalued and undervalued assets to obtain favorable loan rates and to pay less taxes. Judges appeared to suggest bans had a responsibility to beware.

Judge Arthur Engoron had imposed a $364 million sentence on Trump, which is approaching $500 millions with interest. Judges heard Trump’s appeal on Thursday.

The judges “seemed somewhat skeptical that the civil fraud verdict should hold,” HuffPostreports, “with one judge dubbing it an ‘disturbing’ amount and another suggesting that the ‘sophisticated parties’ Trump and Trump Organization engaged with were obligated to do their due diligence.”

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Judges also appeared to suggest New York Attorney General Letitia James may have gone too far.

“How do we draw a line, or at least put up some guardrails, to know when the AG [attorney general] is operating well within her broad — admittedly broad — sphere … and when she is going into an area that wasn’t intended for her jurisdiction?” Justice John Higgitt asked, The Hill reports.

The Washington Examiner, however, reported it “was not immediately clear where the panel might land once it reached a decision on the case. At times, the panel asked several pointed questions to James’s team of lawyers, while the judges appeared to listen more intently to the defense’s argument at other moments.”

Trump announced a press conference at Trump Tower for Thursday at 4:30 PM, although a topic was not included in the release.

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