As Fox News reported late last month, an appeals court threw out the $500 million civil fraud which New York Attorney General Letitia James secured against President Donald Trump.

However, James responded to that reversal by filing a notice of appeal on Thursday with New York's highest judicial body. 

Appeals court says fine excessive

The lawsuit began in late 2023 and concluded last year when New York Judge Arthur Engoron found that Trump had overvalued his assets when applying for loans.

He concluded that Trump was liable for "persistent and repeated fraud," "falsifying business records," "issuing false financial statements," "conspiracy to falsify false financial statements," "insurance fraud," and "conspiracy to commit insurance fraud."

Engoron then proceeded to bar the president from operating his businesses in New York and imposed a $350 million fine which subsequently grew to over half a billion dollars.

Trump appealed that decision to a five-judge New York Supreme Court Appellate Division, which preserved Engoron's findings of wrongdoing but dismissed the fine he imposed as excessive.

"Political hygiene"

Fox News noted that Justice David Friedman wrote a partial dissent in which he suggested that James' rationale for bringing the lawsuit was improper.

He wrote that the state attorney general's "ultimate goal was not market hygiene … but political hygiene, ending with the derailment of President Trump’s political career and the destruction of his real estate business."

Specifically, Friedman took issue with James' use of Section 63(12) of New York’s Executive Law, under which a state attorney general is empowered to pursue civil fraud claims.

"Section 63(12) has never been used in the way it is being used in this case – namely, to attack successful, private, commercial transactions, negotiated at arm’s length between highly sophisticated parties fully capable of monitoring and defending their own interests," he insisted.

Trump spokesman decries "political crusade"

The Hill observed that in her notice of appeal, James did not provide any arguments as to why the appeals court should be reversed, though they are expected to be revealed in a subsequent filing.

Meanwhile, CNBC reported that a spokesperson for Trump's legal team castigated the state attorney general for embarking on a "political crusade."

New York AG appeals reversal of Trump's $500 million fraud penalty https://t.co/Cr0jRBxPMG

— CNBC (@CNBC) September 4, 2025

"Tish James should focus on her own problems and stop wasting New York State taxpayers’ hard earned dollars on her failed Witch Hunt against President Trump, his family, and the magnificent business that he built," the spokesperson insisted.