DOVER, Del. AP – A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a Delaware judge’s rejection of billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian’s claims that he was defrauded in the 1998 merger of DaimlerBenz and Chrysler Corp.

A three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also affirmed a $556,000 sanction against DaimlerChrysler for the late production of documents, an error that abruptly forced the halt of a 13-day bench trial in December 2003.