A New York appellate court has ruled that former President Donald Trump can post a reduced bond to pay off his $464 million civil fraud judgment.
The Appellate Division, First Department, stated that Trump may post a bond “in the amount of $175 million” to cover the verdict.
Trump’s counsel had said that securing a bond for the full amount of $464 million was a “practical impossibility.”
The panel of five judges also decided to postpone the $464 million judgment for 10 days.
The verdict came as Trump and his sons faced a Monday deadline to pay, secure bail, or risk having New York Attorney General Letitia James seize the former president’s prized possessions.
“It is ordered that the motion is granted to the extent of staying enforcement of those portions of the Judgment (1) ordering disgorgement to the Attorney General of $464,576,230.62, conditioned on defendants-appellants posting, within ten (10) days of the date of this order, an undertaking in the amount of $175 million dollars,” the order, which was two pages in length, stated.
Trump thanked the appellate court for the ruling while speaking to reporters at a hearing in his hush money criminal case on Monday.
“I greatly respect the decision of the Appellate Division, and I’ll post either $175 million in cash or bonds or security or whatever is necessary very quickly within the 10 days, and I thank the Appellate Division for acting quickly,” Trump said at the time.
“We got what we wanted,” a Trump confidant told ABC News.
Thirty bond companies had rejected issuing Trump a bond to cover the entire $464 million award and were waiting for the appeals court’s decision.
According to a representative for the New York attorney general, “the $464 million judgment—plus interest—against Donald Trump and the other defendants still stands.”
“Donald Trump is still facing accountability for his staggering fraud,” according to the statement. “The court has already found that he engaged in years of fraud to falsely inflate his net worth and unjustly enrich himself, his family, and his organization.”
In a statement, Trump attorney Alina Habba said, “We are tremendously happy with the Appellate Division’s finding. This colossal holding underpins Judge Engoron’s verdict, which is an insult to all Americans. This is the first critical step in fighting back against Letitia James and her planned witch hunt against my client, which began before she ever set foot in the office.”
“The First Department undoubtedly recognized that the rule of law must triumph over the Attorney General’s political agenda,” said Trump lawyer Christopher Kise. “President Trump looks forward to a full and fair appellate process that overturns the judgment and ends the Attorney General’s abuse of power and tyrannical pursuit of the front-running candidate for President of the United States.”
Judge Arthur Engoron ruled in February that Trump and his sons had engaged in a decade of deception by misrepresenting their assets in order to secure better business deals. Trump and his sons have denied all wrongdoing and are appealing the decision.
The discovery and $354 million penalty, plus interest, created an immediate cash crunch for a man who ran for president based on his wealth and accomplishments.
“I mean, I got president because of the brand, right? I became president.” I think it’s the hottest brand in the world,” Trump told the attorney general’s office in a deposition last year.
Since Judge Engoron’s order last month, Trump’s lawyers have worked tirelessly to postpone the imposition of the enormous financial penalty in his civil fraud case, as well as the $83.3 million judgment he was ordered to pay after a jury held him guilty for defaming novelist E. Jean Carroll. Trump, who has denied all wrongdoing, has filed an appeal in the case.
Following Trump’s fraud verdict, his lawyers first requested that Judge Engoron postpone the entry of the judgment by 30 days “to allow for an orderly post-judgment process, particularly given the magnitude of the judgment.”
Engoron dismissed the request and signed the decision on February 22. The next day, the New York Supreme Court clerk entered the judgment, thus starting the clock for the case’s financial penalties.
“You have failed to explain, much less justify, any basis for a stay,” Engoron said to the defense’s request. “I am confident that the Appellate Division will protect your appellate rights.”
The next week, Trump’s lawyers requested permission from New York’s Appellate Division, First Department, to post a $100 million bond, which is a fraction of the roughly $550 million required to satisfy the full verdict. They informed the court that bail for the entire judgment was “impossible” and that the Trump Organization may have to liquidate properties.
“In the absence of a stay on the terms herein outlined, properties would likely need to be sold to raise capital under exigent circumstances, and there would be no way to recover any property sold following a successful appeal and no means to recover the resulting financial losses from the Attorney General,” the attorneys for the defense said.
Lawyers for the New York attorney general objected to their request, suggesting that if Trump’s appeal fails, he may attempt to avoid punishment.
On February 28, an appellate judge refused Trump’s plea for a stay of the financial penalty but overturned an order by Judge Engoron that barred Trump from running any New York corporation or obtaining lines of credit, allowing Trump to seek a bond from surety companies.
However, Trump’s attorneys returned to the same court last Monday, again requesting a delay because finding a bond business to sign off on a $550 million bond was a “practical impossibility,” they stated. According to a court document, more than 30 surety companies declined the possible bond due to its magnitude and the requirement that Trump utilize property as collateral.
“Perhaps worst of all, the Attorney General argues that defendants should be forced to dispose of iconic, multi-billion-dollar real estate holdings in a ‘fire sale,'” a defense attorney told the court.
Trump has claimed that he has about $500 million in cash, but his lawyers have argued that he cannot pay the bail while running his businesses. Despite not spending any of his personal money on his 2020 presidential campaign, Trump stated that he planned to use the funds for his current campaign.
“Billions of dollars of value, billions of dollars in properties, but they’d like to take the cash away, so I can’t use it on the campaign,” Trump told reporters last week.
Trump’s lawyers also attempted to postpone the enforcement of the verdict in his $83.3 million defamation action, but the former president eventually got a $91 million bond for the judgment plus interest by pledging a brokerage account as collateral.
While James will not be putting a padlock on structures like Trump Tower or 40 Wall Street, she did take the first steps last week to potentially seize Trump’s golf resort and home in New York’s Westchester County by registering the judgment there.
“I’m going to assume they’re going to go to the New York properties first because that’s the easiest thing to do,” Steven Cohen, a New York attorney who specializes in enforcing judgments, told ABC News of a prospective procedure to seize Trump’s assets.
