The lawyers representing former President Donald Trump said on Monday that their client has been unsuccessful in his attempts to secure bond for Judge Arthur Engoron’s $464 million civil business fraud judgment against him and his company.
Trump’s team submitted a filing in the New York Appeals Court, saying that despite Trump’s efforts, suretors wouldn’t accept real estate as collateral, meaning the Trump Organization must come up with around $1 billion in cash to continue to operate, The Wall Street Journal reported. The 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,’” Trump’s 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.
David Gelman, a criminal defense attorney and a former deputy district attorney, told Fox News that Trump should have more freedom to satisfy the bond because “not even the richest man in the world has $464 million lying around.”
“Courts really don’t deny bonds when there are other ways to pay,” Gelman said. “Again, because this is so unprecedented, and I don’t care how rich you are, nobody has that much liquid cash. So if a court had the option to allow a defendant to use some other collateral to satisfy the bond, they will.”
The civil fraud trial began after New York Democratic Attorney General Letitia James sued Trump, alleging that he inflated his net worth and misled lenders. Judge Arthur Engoron ruled in agreement with James last month, ordering Trump to dish up $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.
Late last month, a New York Appeals Court judge rejected Trump’s request to delay the payment on the civil business fraud judgment, but allowed Trump and his sons, Don Jr. and Eric, to continue running their business as they appeal Engoron’s verdict. Trump then asked the appeals court to completely waive his bond requirement as he appeals the judgment.
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New York AG Letitia James has said that she will seize the former president’s properties if he cannot come up with the money to pay the fine.
“If he does not have funds to pay off the judgment, then we will seek judgment enforcement mechanisms in court, and we will ask the judge to seize his assets,” James told ABC News last month. “We are prepared to make sure that the judgment is paid to New Yorkers, and yes, I look at 40 Wall Street each and every day.”
In his appeal, Trump suggested that Engoron “committed errors of law and/or fact” and abused his discretion or “acted in excess” of his jurisdiction, according to the Associated Press.
The former president has maintained throughout the case that he and his business did nothing wrong, arguing that his assets had even been undervalued. During the trial, Trump’s attorneys brought in former bank executives who vouched for Trump as a client and an expert accounting professor who said he reviewed Trump’s financial statements and found no evidence of fraud.
The leading candidate in the 2024 presidential race has said throughout the trial that James’ charges against him are politically motivated, pointing to statements made by the Democratic attorney general in her campaign where she promised to pursue legal action against Trump.