Appeals court signals it might be open to altering Donald Trump’s $489 million civil fraud penalty

Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York appeals court panel appeared receptive Thursday to potentially overturning or reducing a civil fraud judgment that stands to cost Donald Trump nearly $500 million. One judge called the former president’s penalty “troubling” and wondered if the state’s policing of private business transactions amounted to “deterrence” or “mission creep.” A five-judge panel in the state’s intermediate appeals court in Manhattan quizzed lawyers representing Trump and the New York attorney general’s office during oral arguments in the Republican presidential nominee’s fight to get the Feb. 16 verdict reversed. Three of the five appellate court judges who heard the case Thursday must agree in order to alter the trial’s outcome.