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By: Hadassa Kalatizadeh
On Monday, former President Donald J. Trump filed papers saying he is unable to post the $454 million bond to cover the civil fraud judgment against him in New York.
As reported by the NY Post, on Monday Mr. Trump filed papers in appeals court seeking to get out of having to post the bond by the upcoming deadline. The massive bond had started out at $350 million and has since ballooned to $464 million with pre-judgment interest, thanks to interest which accrues by $112,000 each day. In February, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron had ordered the hefty judgment against the real estate titan as a result of the three-month trial led by NY Attorney General Letitia James, in accusing Trump of exaggerating his net worth by billions a year on financial statements in order to secure better loans and insurance terms.
The case isn’t over, as Trump intends to fight Engoron’s decision, but he still must either put the full judgment amount into escrow or secure a bond to show he can pay the money in case he loses the appeal. “If you’re trying to appeal a financial penalty, the courts want to make sure if you lose, at the end of the day you can pay the penalty,” said Kevin J. O’Brien, a former prosecutor and current defense attorney in New York, adding that it was “standard procedure.”
As per NBC News, the money is due by next week but Trump’s team has asked an appeals court to step in because he’s facing “insurmountable difficulties” getting the financial backing to pay the lump sum, his attorneys wrote in the filings. “Defendants’ ongoing diligent efforts have proven that a bond in the judgment’s full amount is ‘a practical impossibility,’” the filing said. “These diligent efforts have included approaching about 30 surety companies through 4 separate brokers.” Their efforts, including “countless hours negotiating with one of the largest insurance companies in the world,” have proven that “obtaining an appeal bond in the full amount” of the judgment “is not possible under the circumstances presented,” the filing said.
Trump’s lawyers maintain that the $454 million penalty is “grossly disproportional” and reiterated the argument they made throughout the trial that “there are no victims, as there were no damages and no financial losses.” The sum is “unjust, unconstitutional” and “un-American,” said Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump’s campaign, in a statement. “A bond of this size would be an abuse of the law.”
Trump, 77 who is currently the Republican 2024 presidential nominee, has said through his team of lawyers, that it would be unfair to force him to sell his properties at fire sale prices, because he’d suffer irreparable losses and would subsequently would never be able to get them back at the same price, even if he ultimately won the appeal in the final judgment.
Per the Post, unless the appeals court steps in, on March 25th the 30-day automatic stay will expire in the judgment, and AG James will be allowed to start seizing Trump’s assets—including his NY Properties, or other assets like bank accounts, wages, art, accounts receivable, rent on buildings, and money market accounts. “I believe that the AG would be able to levy on any assets of Trump, including the many real estate holdings.”
