Donald Trump’s appeal bond has been lowered and final judgement paused in his New York civil fraud case, while the former president is still under the full judgement should he lose his appeal.
A New York appeals court on Monday paused for 10 days a massive civil business fraud judgment against Donald Trump — and sharply reduced to $175 million the bond amount he will have to post to obtain a longer stay of that award.
The ruling came the same day that New York Attorney General Letitia James would have been allowed to start seizing the former president’s real estate assets and bank accounts to satisfy the $454 million-and-rising judgment after he failed to obtain an appeal bond.
James is prevented from doing so — for now — due to the order from the five-judge panel in Manhattan Supreme Court’s appellate division.
Trump in a social media post quickly said that he would “post either a bond, equivalent securities, or cash” in the new amount set by the appeals court.
Earlier Monday, he had raged in a Truth Social post that he might be forced to sell his “babies” — real estate assets — to satisfy the large judgment amount while he appeals the verdict in the case, where a judge found that he and other defendants for years fraudulently inflated the stated value of properties.
Trump’s lawyers previously suggested that the appeal bond in the case be set at $100 million.
In a court filing last week, those attorneys said that it was “impossible” for Trump to get an appeal bond for $454 million after having approached more than 30 surety companies without success.
Trump’s two adults sons, his company the Trump Organization and two executives who all were co-defendants in the case owe a total of about $10 million in additional damages.
None of the surety companies were willing to write a $464 million bond without Trump posting cash or some other liquid asset, the attorneys wrote in their filing with the appellate division.
Because of the size of the fraud judgment, the companies insisted that Trump show “cash reserves approaching $1 billion,” according to his lawyers. But neither Trump nor the Trump Organization company has that amount of cash on hand, the filing said.
While Monday’s ruling lowers the size of the required appeal bond, it does reduce the size of the judgment in the case. If Trump and the other defendants lose their appeal, they would be on the hook for the full judgement, unless the appeals court reduces that as well.
One of the things that wealth purchases is an endless buffet of second chances, makeup tests, special exceptions, and waivers that normal people don’t get.
Which is why it is so outrageous when someone starts wanking on about meritocracy and complaining about affirmative action.Report
Yep – Trump has absolutely proven their is a multi-tiered justice system in the US. It may yet be his greatest political achievement.Report