The trial court ordered former president Donald Trump to pay fines of more than $454 million in connection with the civil fraud lawsuit brought by New York Attorney-General Letitia James. Trump has appealed this judgment but is required to pay a bond of the full amount to continue with the appeal.
According to his legal team, the former president wasn’t able to obtain the required bond due to the high amount and the fact that underwriters prefer to use cash as a guarantee rather than real estate.
His lawyers told the New York Court of Appeals that former president Donald Trump could not find an insurance company willing to guarantee his bond to cover a massive judgment brought against him by the New York Attorney General’s civil fraud lawsuit.
Trump’s lawyers said that he had approached 30 underwriters for the bond. The bond is due at the end of the month.
Trump’s attorney wrote: “The amount of the judgment, with interest, exceeds $464 million, and very few bonding companies will consider a bond of anything approaching that magnitude.” (Trump himself was fined $454 million; the $464 million includes the disgorgement for his adult sons Don Jr. and Eric.)
Trump was able to post the bond required for his appeal in the E. Jean Carroll case of defamation earlier in March.
As noted above, however, the sheer amount of money required to cover the fraud makes it virtually impossible to obtain the bond, especially given that the underwriters are demanding cash instead of properties as collateral.
Trump’s legal team has asked the court to allow the appeal without the bond because the value of Trump’s properties is far greater than the amount at issue. The appeals court’s decision is still to be determined.
This is a breaking news story. Updates will be provided as soon as they become available.
