Former President Donald Trump said on Friday that he now has nearly $500 million cash on hand ahead of the Monday deadline to post bond for the $454 million judgment against him in the New York civil business fraud case.
The former president’s lawyers requested a stay on the massive civil fraud judgment, which they said securing the bond for would be “a practical impossibly,” but a New York appeals court rejected the request. Judge Arthur Engoron has ordered Trump to post the bond by Monday, Fox News reported.
Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social on Friday morning that “through hard work, talent, and luck,” he has nearly $500 million cash on hand, saying that he had “intended to use” the money for his 2024 presidential campaign.
“The often overturned political hack judge on the rigged and corrupt A.G. case, where I have done nothing wrong, knew this, wanted to take it away from me, and that’s where and why he came up with the shocking number which, coupled with his crazy interest demand, is approximately $454,000,000,” Trump wrote. “I did nothing wrong except win an election in 2016 that I wasn’t expected to win, did even better in 2020, and now lead, by a lot, in 2024. This is communism in America.”
Trump added in a follow-up post, “No trial, no jury, no crime, no victim, only a crooked judge and a corrupt, Trump hating attorney general who takes her orders directly from the White House. Election interference at a level never seen before!!!”
Engoron ruled in agreement with New York Democratic Attorney General Letitia James last month after James brought civil charges against Trump, alleging the former president inflated his net worth and misled investors. In his judgment, Engoron ordered Trump to pay $350 million, which increased to $454 million, including interest, and also ordered Trump’s co-defendants to pay $10 million.
Earlier this week, Trump blasted Engoron over the civil fraud judgment, saying he could be forced to sell his properties at “Fire Sale prices” to secure the bond.
“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.
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Trump’s lawyers said their client had attempted approaching around “30 surety companies through 4 separate brokers” with no success.
“A bond requirement of this enormous magnitude — effectively requiring cash reserves approaching $1 billion … is unprecedented for a private company,” the attorneys added in a legal filing.