Former President Donald Trump will appeal the $355 million fine imposed in New York's civil fraud trial by challenging Judge Arthur Engoron's definition of fraud, Newsweek reported Monday.
Engoron, a Democrat, on Friday ordered Trump to pay the enormous fine after deciding the former president, The Trump Organization, top executives, and his adult sons are liable for fraud.
"The case raises serious legal and constitutional questions regarding 'fraud' claims/findings without any actual fraud," Chris Kise, Trump's principal lawyer in the case, told Newsweek.
Trump and his lawyers previously vowed to appeal Engoron's ruling to the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division, First Judicial Department, ABC News reported.
Kise told Newsweek the appeal's filing "will fall within the 30-day clock" allowed by the court, though he did give a specific date.
Syracuse University of Law professor Greg Germain told Newsweek that Trump will need to show that New York Democrat Attorney General Letitia James does not have the power to punish him "without showing the traditional elements of fraud: (1) scienter — basically intent to defraud, (2) false statements of fact rather than opinion or trade puffing, (3) reasonable reliance by the victims, (4) materiality, (5) causation, and (6) damages."
"I think he has a strong argument that when the attorney general seeks to punish for past use, rather than prevent future use, she would have to show all of the traditional elements of fraud," Germain told the outlet.
James' team will argue that the attorney general has power to prosecute fraud, and she doesn't have to show that all six elements are present.
"Judge Engoron ruled in the summary judgment order that, under [executive order] 63.12, the attorney general does not have to show any of those elements — a showing of falsity is enough," Germain said.
The professor added, however, that had the court applied the full six-part definition of fraud, it would have found very little evidence that the banks had a "reasonable reliance" on Trump's statements.
"The evidence of reasonable reliance [on Trump's financial statements] by the 'victims' is very weak' and may be grounds of appeal," Germain told Newsweek.
The judge's decision came after a trial in which James, who campaigned vowing to get Trump, charged the former president, his company and executives, including his two eldest sons, with scheming to dupe banks, insurers, and others by inflating his wealth on financial statements.
In a juryless trial last fall, Engoron found that Trump inflated his assets to get more favorable business loans. Proceedings then began late last year to determine how much the former president and his associates would pay in damages.
In Engoron's ruling, Trump executives Allen Weisselberg and Jeff McConney are barred from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity in the state for three years. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump were ordered to each pay more than $4 million and were banned from doing business in the state for two years.
Kise accused James and Engoron of trying to run Trump out of New York, Newsweek said.
Trump, the current front-runner in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has maintained his innocence in the case.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.