NEW YORK >> In a triumph for Donald Trump, a New York state appeals court today threw out an approximately half-billion-dollar penalty against the president, in a fraud case that had been one of his biggest legal setbacks before his return to the White House.

The decision by the Appellate Division in Manhattan is a defeat for New York Attorney General Letitia James, who Trump accused of bringing the civil fraud lawsuit to advance a political witch hunt and deny him a second term.

A trial judge had ordered the penalty in February 2024 after finding that Trump fraudulently overstated his wealth and the value of his properties to bolster his family business.

Trump denied wrongdoing, and his lawyers argued that any errors in reporting Trump’s fortune to his lenders and business partners wer

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