Donald Trump has appealed his $454 million civil fraud verdict in New York, challenging a judge’s ruling that Trump lied about his wealth while growing the real estate empire that propelled him to stardom and brought the presidency.

The former president’s lawyers filed appeals Monday asking the state’s mid-level appeals court to overturn Judge Arthur Engoron’s Feb. 16 ruling in Att.

orne

j. Gen.

eral

Lawsuit against Letitia James and reversal of staggering penalties that threaten to wipe out Trump’s cash reserves.

Trump’s lawyers wrote in court papers that they are asking the appeals court to decide whether Engoron committed errors of law and/or fact and whether he abused his discretion or acted outside his jurisdiction.

Trump’s paperwork did not address whether Trump tried to pause collection of the judgment while he appealed by making money, assets or an appeal bond to cover the amount owed eligible for an automatic stay.

Messages seeking comment were left with Trump’s lawyers and the New York attorney general’s office.

New York’s attorney general says she will seize Trump’s property if he can’t pay $454 million fine

Engoron found that Trump, his company and top executives, including his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr., plotted for years to deceive banks and insurers by inflating his wealth with financial statements used to secure loans and close deals . Among other penalties, the judge imposed strict limits on the ability of Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, to do business.

The call ensures that the legal battle over Trump’s business practices will continue into the middle of the presidential primary season, and likely beyond, as he tries to clinch the Republican presidential nomination in his quest to retake the White House.

If Engoron’s ruling is upheld, he will force Trump to give up a significant portion of his fortune. Engoron ordered Trump to pay $355 million in fines, but with interest the total has risen to almost $454 million. That total will increase by nearly $112,000 a day until he pays up.

Trump claims he is worth several billion dollars and confirmed last year that he had about $400 million in cash, in addition to properties and other investments. James, a Democrat, told ABC News that if Trump cannot pay, she will try to seize some of his assets.

Trump’s call was expected. Trump had vowed to appeal and his lawyers had spent months laying the groundwork by repeatedly objecting to Engoron’s handling of the trial.

Trump said Engoron’s decision, the costliest consequence of his recent legal troubles, was election interference and weaponization against a political opponent.

Trump challenges the judge and makes a speech in court on the tense final day of the civil fraud trial in New York

Trump complained that he was being punished for building a perfect company, lots of money, great buildings and everything great.

Trump’s lawyer Christopher Kise said after the verdict that the former president was confident the appeals court would ultimately correct the countless and catastrophic mistakes made by a court divorced from the law or reality.

Given the high stakes, we trust the Appellate Division will overturn this egregious verdict and put an end to this brutal prosecution of my clients, said Trump attorney Alina Habba.

If the decision stands, Habba said, it will be a signal to every American that New York is no longer open for business.

Trump could not immediately appeal the decision because the Engoron courthouse clerk’s office had to file paperwork known as a judgment to make it official. That was done

on

A 30-day period begins Friday during which Trump can pay or appeal and request a delay.

During the trial, Trump’s lawyers accused Engoron of palpable and overwhelming bias. They have also objected to the legal aspects of James’ lawsuit. Trump claims the law she sued him for is a consumer protection statute normally used to rein in companies that rip off customers.

Trump erupts into a chaotic day of testimony, in a rare glimpse of the ex-president under oath

Trump’s lawyers have gone to the Appellate Division at least a dozen times to challenge Engoron’s previous rulings, including at trial in a failed attempt to overturn a gag order and $15,000 in misdemeanor fines after Trump had made a disparaging and false post on social media about a key court employee.

Trump’s lawyers have long argued that some of the allegations are barred by the statute of limitations. They argued that Engoron failed to comply with an Appellate Division ruling last year that he had narrowed the scope of the trial to eliminate outdated allegations.

If Trump is unsuccessful in the Appellate Division, he could ask the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, to hear his case.

The appeal is one of several legal challenges from Trump. He has been indicted on criminal charges four times in the past year. He is accused in Georgia and Washington DC of plotting to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. In Florida he is accused of hoarding classified documents.

He will stand trial in Manhattan next month

evidently

falsifying company records relating to hush money paid to porn actor Stormy Daniels on his behalf.

In January, a jury ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million to writer E. Jean Carroll for defaming her after she accused him in 2019 of sexually assaulting her at a Manhattan department store in the 1990s. That’s in addition to the $5 million a jury awarded Carroll in a related lawsuit last year.