The court ruling erased the more than $500 million Trump had been ordered to pay, but still keeps him liable for fraud.
Key Facts
Forbes estimates Trump is now worth approximately $6 billion, up from $5.5 billion prior to the court’s ruling Thursday morning.
A panel of appeals court judges voted to throw out the $450 million judgment against Trump—which had ballooned to approximately $517 million with interest—after Judge Arthur Engoron previously levied the fine as part of his ruling finding Trump liable for fraud.
Engoron ruled Trump and his business associates knowingly misstated the value of assets on financial documents, in part to reflect a higher net worth for Trump.
The boost to Trump’s net worth comes from wiping off the approximately $500 million liability from the president’s balance sheet.
It’s still possible at least some of his civil fraud judgment could be restored, as New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the lawsuit, said she intends to appeal Thursday’s court ruling to New York’s highest court.
The appeals court ruling wiped out Trump’s fine but still left intact Engoron’s ruling finding the president liable for fraud—and kept other non-monetary penalties in place—as the judges could not reach a majority consensus on whether or not to uphold Engoron’s decision on the merits.Big Number
Approximately $95 million. That’s how much the president still owes in legal liabilities based on two defamation cases brought against him by writer E. Jean Carroll. An appeals court is now weighing whether to uphold the larger $89 million judgment against Trump after hearing oral arguments in June. The smaller judgment, for $5 million, was upheld in court in December, though it remains to be seen whether Trump could try to take the fight to the Supreme Court.
