Connecticut has joined 16 other states in a friend-of-the-court brief defending state attorneys general’s authority to pursue business fraud, Attorney General William Tong’s office announced October 30.
The filing concerns the civil fraud case brought by New York against Donald Trump and other defendants. It is addressed to the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, under appeal number APL-2025-00171. The brief’s cover is dated October 28, 2026.
The coalition argues that fraud enforcement serves a public purpose even when a transaction involves sophisticated private businesses that choose not to bring their own claims. It asks the court to reject a narrow reading of New York’s enforcement law that the states say could also affect enforcement efforts elsewhere.
The brief describes the defendants’ position as a challenge to state intervention in transactions involving large financial institutions that did not complain of harm. That description comes from the opposing coalition’s filing; Eastern CT News has not independently reviewed the defendants’ full appellate brief.
For Connecticut, the stated concern is preserving public enforcement powers beyond disputes that private parties decide to litigate. Connecticut’s participation is advocacy in an appeal, not a new ruling or a change to state law. This report does not establish a final decision on the appeal.
This AI-prepared report draws on Connecticut’s October 30 announcement, California’s accompanying release and the downloaded coalition brief. The cover, introduction, summary of argument and opening argument pages were visually read October 31; the entire 26-page filing was not reviewed. The photograph is a file image of the exact New York Court of Appeals building from the Historical Society of the New York Courts, not this filing or a current hearing.