Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he could be forced to sell his properties to secure bond for the $464 million civil business fraud judgment against him and his company.
In a series of posts on Truth Social, Trump laid into New York Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron, calling the $464 million judgment a “ridiculous decision” and “election interference.” Trump’s comments came a day after the former president’s team submitted a filing in the New York Appeals Court, saying that despite Trump’s efforts, suretors who put up the bail wouldn’t accept real estate as collateral, meaning the Trump Organization must come up with around $1 billion in cash to continue to operate.
“Judge Engoron actually wants me to put up Hundreds of Millions of Dollars for the Right to Appeal his ridiculous decision. In other words, he is trying to take my Appellate Rights away from me when I have already won at the Appellate Division, but he refuses to accept their already made decision. Nobody has ever heard of anything like this before,” Trump wrote. “I would be forced to mortgage or sell Great Assets, perhaps at Fire Sale prices, and if and when I win the Appeal, they would be gone. Does that make sense? WITCH HUNT. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!”
Engoron ruled in agreement with New York Democratic Attorney General Letitia James last month, ordering Trump to pay $350 million, which increased to $454 million, including interest, and barring Trump and his sons from running their business in New York for two to three years. Trump’s co-defendants were also fined in the judgment, raising the combined amount that Trump and his fellow defendants owed to more than $464 million.
Trump has maintained throughout the trial that the charges against him are politically motivated and says that his assets were undervalued, while James charges that Trump inflated his net worth.
The leading presidential candidate in the 2024 race added in a later post, “The Corrupt Political Hacks in New York, Judge and AG, are asking me to put up massive amounts of money before I am allowed to appeal the ridiculous decision. Never done before. No jury, no victim, full disclaimer clause, happy banks. ELECTION INTERFERENCE! WITCH HUNT!”
“I shouldn’t have to put up any money, being forced by the Corrupt Judge and AG, until the end of the appeal,” he said in a third post. “That’s the way [the] system works!”
Trump appealed Engoron’s decision last month, but for a stay to be issued while the appeal continues, the former president has been ordered to pay the full bond amount, which is 120% of the judgment, or around $557 million, the Associated Press reported.
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Trump’s lawyers argued in their filing that posting bond for the judgment’s full amount is “a practical impossibility.”
“Here, Defendants’ ongoing diligent efforts have proven that a bond in the judgment’s full amount is ‘a practical impossibility,’” the lawyers wrote.
“These diligent efforts have included approaching about 30 surety companies through 4 separate brokers … A bond requirement of this enormous magnitude — effectively requiring cash reserves approaching $1 billion … is unprecedented for a private company,” the legal filing added.