Trump asks NY court to toss remnants of fraud case against him [View all]

Source: Politico

04/08/2026 02:49 PM EDT


President Donald Trump, rebuffed by the federal courts in his attempt to prosecute longtime foe New York Attorney General Letitia James, is asking a state court to wipe away the last remnants of a victory she once secured over his family business.

In a 119-page filing Wednesday with New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, Trump’s lawyers took what they described as the “unusual” step of appealing a lower court’s decision that was largely in his favor.

That decision threw out a roughly $500 million civil fraud judgment against Trump and his family business while preserving the fraud case against them, in which a Manhattan trial judge found that Trump, his two eldest sons and several business associates fraudulently inflated his net worth and the value of his real estate properties to obtain favorable rates from banks and insurers.

In their brief, Trump’s lawyers applauded the lower appeals court for tossing the “excessive” judgment but asked the Court of Appeals to reverse the fraud finding and remove a ban that blocks Trump and his two eldest sons from serving as officers of a New York business for up to three years. The ban also prevents Trump and his business entities from applying for loans from any financial institution with a New York branch for three years. The court, Trump lawyers wrote, should “put an end to this legally deficient case.”

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/08/donald-trump-civil-fraud-appeal-00864123