Facing a fast-approaching deadline, former President Donald Trump hasn’t been able to get a bond in his civil fraud case to shield his assets while he appeals a $454 million judgment, his lawyers told an appeals court in New York Monday.
Trump would need nearly $1 billion in cash or cash equivalents to post the bond while also keeping his businesses running and paying other debts, they said in a court filing.
The lawyers were referring to a judgment of about $464 million against Trump and his co-defendants in the case, but nearly all of the judgment — about $454 million — applies only to Trump and some of his businesses. The Trump team is pleading for the court to block New York Attorney General Letitia James from collecting on the judgment — which could begin next week — without requiring him to post a bond or deposit for the full amount.
“Obtaining such cash through a ‘fire sale’ of real estate holdings would inevitably result in massive, irrecoverable losses—textbook irreparable injury,” the lawyers argued.
“Despite scouring the market, we have been unsuccessful in our effort to obtain a bond for the Judgment Amount for Defendants for the simple reason that obtaining an appeal bond for $464 million is a practical impossibility under the circumstances presented,” according to the filing.
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James eyeing Trump property
A single judge on the appeals court already rejected Trump’s request to post a bond of $100 million instead of the full $454 million. His lawyers are continuing to plead with that court for help.
James has pledged to pursue Trump’s assets if he can’t post a bond or deposit to cover the judgment.
“We are prepared to make sure that the judgment is paid to New Yorkers, and yes, I look at 40 Wall Street each and every day,” James told ABC News last month, referring to the Trump Building in Manhattan.
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Mounting court losses
New York trial Judge Arthur Engoron entered a judgment in late February against Trump and his businesses in the civil case for about $454 million in ill-gotten gains plus interest after ruling that month that they got hundreds of millions of dollars in loan and insurance benefits by fraudulently inflating the value of Trump’s assets. Trump has appealed Engoron’s ruling. As things currently stand, he must post a bond or deposit to prevent James from collecting until his appeal is over.
Trump was also hit with a $83.3 million verdict in January in a defamation case brought by advice columnist E. Jean Carroll. He managed to post a bond of nearly $92 million to block collection in that case.
