Thanks for clarifying what happened. So that court thinks that being convicted of business fraud is enough without any other monetary penalty. WOW.
What if it is appealed to the NY supreme court? Can a fine be imposed?
I do not practice in NY, but the AG said she is appealing the decision. I'm assuming she will ask the NY Court of Appeals to reinstate the penalty. In terms of the penalty, I'm not sure what options the NY Court of Appeals would have (this gets into areas of NY law that are well outside my area of practice). My best guess (emphasis on guess) is that the court could either: 1) reinstate the entire penalty (this strikes me as an unlikely outcome), 2) confirm that tossing the entire penalty was correct, or 3) order a retrial with legal guidance Re 8th amendment limits on penalties, after which a new penalty might be imposed depending on the outcome of the new trial.
It is unclear to me if the NY Court of Appeals could adjust the penalty on its own without a retrial. I suspect this is unlikely because an adjustment would likely (again, just a guess) require new findings of fact (which must done by a trial court) to determine 8th amendment limits under new legal guidance.
If the the NY Court of Appeals tosses the finding that Trump committed fraud, the amount of the penalty would be a dead issue unless the court ordered a new trial on the fraud issue itself (I'm guessing that the NY Court of Appeals could properly order a retrial on the fraud issue, but I'm not sure).
NY Court of Appeals will be in an awkward position. I suspect that the court will not want to set a precedent that effectively removes penalties for business fraud, but reinstating the entire penalty would also be uncomfortable (for lack of a better word) for the court. Based on the Clinton v Jones case, it appears to me that a retrial could in theory proceed while Trump is in office, but I doubt the courts would order an immediate retrial.
Take all of the above with several grains of salt. I have not read the court decision and the case involves many legal issues that are outside my area of practice.
