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arthur engoron
NY Appeals Court Delivers Reprieve for Trump on $454 Million Bond
"They sure let him twist in the wind until the last moment," said one legal expert.
Mar 25, 2024
As the deadline arrived Monday for Donald Trump to pay a $454 million bond following a New York judge's ruling that the former Republican president and his company committed fraud, an appeals court in the state ruled that Trump would be permitted to post a vastly reduced amount.
The appeals court panel said the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee could pay $175 million after the former president indicated he was unable to pay the full amount, having sought the bond from more than two dozen surety companies.
New York Attorney General Letitia James indicated earlier this month that she could begin seizing Trump's assets as soon as Monday if he was unable to pay the $454 million judgment.
Trump was hit with the fine as the result of James' civil fraud case against the former president and his real estate company, the Trump Organization. Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump and the firm had committed "repeated and persistent fraud," including by falsifying financial statements by as much as $2.2 billion.
The former president is appealing the ruling and had looked for companies to guarantee the full amount of the bond in the event that he lost the appeal, but with much of his fortune tied up in his properties, he was unable to come up with the collateral demanded by the institutions.
Trump said Monday that he plans to "post either a bond, equivalent securities, or cash" within the 10 days granted by the appeals court in order to delay enforcement of the full fine.
Former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman, now a senior legal affairs columnist for the Los Angeles Times, said the "pro-business" appellate court's decision was not surprising and was "reasonable," considering that "a bond is designed to secure eventual payment, not to financially wreck the defendant."
"In a sense the decision reducing Trump's bond and giving him more time is consistent with the 'treat Trump like any other litigant' credo," said Litman, "but they sure let him twist in the wind until the last moment."
James' office responded to the appeals court's decision by focusing on the fact that the full judgment against Trump, his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., and former executive Allen Weisselberg still stands.
"Donald Trump is still facing accountability for his staggering fraud," said a spokesperson for James. "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."
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Major Asset Seizure Likely as Trump Can't Afford Bond for NY Fraud Case
"Trump owes this money because he fraudulently misrepresented the value of his assets—and now (oops) apparently no one will accept those assets as collateral."
Mar 18, 2024
Less than a month after New York Attorney General Letitia James said she would be willing to seize former Republican President Donald Trump's assets if he is unable to pay the $464 million required by last month's judgment in his civil fraud case, Trump's lawyers disclosed in court filings Monday that he had failed to secure a bond for the amount.
In the nearly 5,000-page filing, lawyers for Trump said it has proven a "practical impossibility" for Trump to secure a bond from any financial institutions in the state, as "about 30 surety companies" have refused to accept assets including real estate as collateral and have demanded cash and other liquid assets instead.
To get the institutions to agree to cover that $464 million judgment if Trump loses his appeal and fails to pay the state, he would have to pledge more than $550 million as collateral—"a sum he simply does not have," reported The New York Times, despite his frequent boasting of his wealth and business prowess.
Trump himself was ordered to pay $454 million; the remainder was demanded from his sons, Donald Trump, Jr. and Eric Trump.
A Times analysis found earlier this month that Trump has only about $350 million in cash.
James has given Trump until March 25 to pay the judgment, which was announced last month as New York State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron found the former president and his real estate empire, the Trump Organization, had committed "repeated and persistent fraud," including by falsifying financial statements by as much as $2.2 billion.
"It wouldn't surprise me if lenders are refusing real estate as collateral due to his lying about their value," said attorney Blake Allen.
The attorney general said last month that regardless of Trump's difficulty in securing the bond, her office is "prepared to make sure that the judgment is paid to New Yorkers" and suggested she would pursue asset seizure.
"I look at 40 Wall Street each and every day," James told ABC News, referring to one of Trump's buildings in New York's Financial District.
James hasn't publicly stated what other Trump assets she would potentially seize from the presumptive Republican presidential candidate.
On Monday, Trump asked an appeals court to issue a stay on the judgment, pausing enforcement while his appeal proceeds, or to accept just $100 million.
In addition to potentially levying and selling Trump's assets, Syracuse University law professor Gregory Germain told The Associated Press last month, James' office could "lien his real property, and garnish anyone who owes him money."
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Trump Fined $355 Million in New York Civil Fraud Case
A New York judge wrote the ex-president and his organization showed a "complete lack of contrition and remorse," bordering on "pathological."
Feb 16, 2024
Noting that Donald Trump and his real estate company "are incapable of admitting the error of their ways," New York State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron on Friday ordered Trump and his associates to pay $364 million in fines and barred the former U.S. president from "serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity in New York for a period of three years."
Trump and his company are responsible for $355 million; his adult sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, owe $4 million each; and longtime executive Allen Weisselberg was fined $1 million.
The judgment comes weeks after Trump was ordered to pay $83.3 million for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll. A jury also found last year that Trump was liable for sexually abusing her in 1996.
The former president and the Trump Organization, whose top executives include his sons, were accused by New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, of "repeated and persistent fraud," including falsifying financial statements by as much as $2.2 billion.
In his ruling, Engoron took issue with Trump's "refusal to admit error," and quoted 18th-century English poet Alexander Pope: "To err is human, to forgive is divine."
"Defendants are apparently of a different mind," wrote the judge. "Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological."
Susanne Craig, an investigative journalist at The New York Times who has covered Trump's finances and legal cases, told MSNBC the ruling is a "massive, seismic decision today for" the president and his company.
"With Donald Trump, I always think the language he speaks is money and this is a lot of money," said Craig. "We don't really know how much cash he has on hand. At one point he said he had $400 million and there's documents that have been filed with the court that said he could have maybe had in that range at some point, we don't know."
"To even say it's a body blow may be an understatement," said Craig.
James called the ruling "a massive victory."
Trump will have to pay "over $450 million in disgorgement and interest," the attorney general noted.
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