An appeal court has lowered former President Donald Trump’s bond in the New York civil fraud case from $454 million to $175 million to be paid within ten days.
This is coming as Trump attended a hearing in New York for motions in the hush money case against him.
The ruling came the same day that New York Attorney General Letitia James would have been allowed to start seizing the former president’s real estate assets and bank accounts to satisfy the $454 million-and-rising judgment after he failed to obtain an appeal bond.
Earlier on Monday, he had raged in a Truth Social post that he might be forced to sell his “babies” (ie real estate assets) to satisfy the large judgment amount while he appeals the verdict in the case, where the judge found that he and other defendants for years fraudulently inflated the stated value of properties.
Trump’s lawyers previously suggested that the appeal bond in the case be set at $100 million.
In a court filing last week, those attorneys said that it was “impossible” for Trump to get an appeal bond for $454 million after having approached more than 30 surety companies without success.
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Trump’s two adults sons, his company the Trump Organization and two executives who all were co-defendants in the case owe a total of about $10 million in additional damages.
None of the surety companies were willing to write a $464 million bond without Trump posting cash or some other liquid asset, the attorneys wrote in their filing with the appellate division.
Because of the size of the fraud judgment, the companies insisted that Trump show “cash reserves approaching $1 billion,” according to his lawyers. But neither Trump nor the Trump Organization company has that amount of cash on hand, the filing said.
While Monday’s ruling lowers the size of the required appeal bond, it does reduce the size of the judgment in the case. If Trump and the other defendants lose their appeal, they would be on the hook for the full judgement, unless the appeals court reduces that as well.
In its order on Monday, the appeals court trial Judge, Arthur Enfgoron’s decision had barred Trump from serving as an officer or director of a New York company for three years, and also barred him and the corporate defendants from applying for loans from New York lenders for the same period. The order also stayed Engoron’s judge’s ruling that had barred Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, from serving as officers and directors of New York companies for two years.
But the appeals court panel rejected a request to block enforcement of Engoron’s order extending and enhancing the role of a financial watchdog the judge had installed to monitor the Trump Organization’s finances.
