Friday 27 / December / 2024
New York: In a fresh appeal court filing on Monday, the attorneys for former President Donald Trump stated that he is having "insurmountable difficulties" getting a bond to pay the $464 million civil fraud case, ABC News reported.
Because of the magnitude of the judgement, he would have to use real estate as security.
In February, Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump guilty of conducting a decade's worth of business using false financial statements that exaggerated his real estate assets and inflated his fortune, and he sentenced him to pay USD 464 million in disgorgement and interest.
A three-year ban on Trump's ability to run any New York-based corporation was also imposed.
Additionally, his sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr, each received a USD 4 million fine and a two-year ban.
"Defendants have faced what have proven to be insurmountable difficulties in obtaining an appeal bond for the full USD 464 million," according to an affirmation by Trump Organization general counsel Alan Garten, ABC News reported.
Garten's affirmation states that as of now, none of the surety bond companies that Trump has contacted are prepared to take real estate as collateral. This includes Chubb, the insurance giant that is financing Trump's USD 91.6 million bond to pay the USD 83 million judgement plus interest in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case.
"For Defendants, this presents a major obstacle," Garten wrote.
Trump's lawyers, who have referred to the ruling as "unconstitutionally excessive," asked an appellate court once more on Monday to permit Trump to obtain a bond in a smaller sum.
"Obtaining such cash through a 'fire sale' of real estate holdings would inevitably result in massive, irrecoverable losses -- textbook irreparable injury," defence lawyers Alina Habba and Clifford Robert wrote, according to ABC News.
If Trump posts a bond, which could be backed by properties or other assets, it stops the attorney general from seizing his property, as reported by CNN.
Trump could also ask the appeals court to stay the judgment or ask them to not require him to post the money until later.
According to some lawyers, it is more common for companies to have to post judgements of this amount, but the sheer size of it for an individual is in some ways uncharted territory.
