Letitia James to advance fraud appeal as DOJ pressure campaign intensifies

Source: The Hill

08/23/25 12:00 PM ET


New York Attorney General Letitia James is not backing down. Her sprawling business fraud case against President Trump took a meteoric hit when a divided appeals court Thursday threw out the roughly $500 million civil fraud penalty against him and his company despite keeping the case intact.

However, she vowed to appeal to the state’s highest court, even as the Justice Department has turned up the heat on her, pursuing probes scrutinizing her office and personal real estate in an escalation of Trump’s vows for retribution against his foes.

James is among Trump’s most prominent adversaries after winning the civil fraud case against him and his business, resulting in a finding that he altered his net worth for tax and insurance benefits — a blow to his real estate mogul image. It puts New York’s top prosecutor back on a collision course with the president.

“I do think it’s clear that this is retribution,” said Catherine Christian, a veteran New York trial lawyer who has closely followed the case. “This is like, ‘I’m paying you back for what you did to me,’” she said.

Read more: https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5466259-letitia-james-appeals-trump-fraud/