Former President Donald Trump, along with his sons and enterprises, were ordered by a New York Supreme Court Judge to pay $355 million in a civil fraud case.
They were also banned from leading any New York-based organization for three years.
However, experts suggested that the severe penalties could be questioned on appeal, potentially leading to the case being thrown out.
“I think the judges are going to have to look carefully at what the powers of the attorney general are here,” Syracuse University law professor Gregory Germain said. “Are they so broad that any lie can put you out of business, even if nobody believed it?”
Critics argued that the legal actions against Trump are politically motivated, raising concerns about selective prosecution and the impact on New York’s business environment.
“[Y]ou just say goodbye to New York, which fits a pattern that many successful people have been doing and leaving New York because New York is just too political, too blue and too punitive,” former George W. Bush press secretary Air Fleischer said. “You’re seeing that in the business community and among upper income New Yorkers already.”
“It’s one of the greatest ironies of this case,” George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said. “In the name of protecting businesses in New York, you probably just led to hundreds of businesses looking at potential rentals in Florida because they look and they go, ‘wow, if we fall on the wrong side of the politics in New York, they could sell us off for spare parts.’”
“Clearly, James made this pledge that she was going to bag Donald Trump,” Turley said. “And it is part of an overall campaign that seems to be an effort at ‘death by exposure’ both on the civil and criminal side.”
“There’s very little pressure pushing back on these politicians here to stop doing it because it’s wrong,” Fleischer said.
“So unless the appeals process in New York comes to the rescue, it’s become a legal banana republic,” he added.
The outcome may result in Trump and others relocating their businesses from New York to places like Florida due to perceived political biases.
The appellate court’s decision is seen as crucial in determining the future consequences of the case.
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