Trump short on funds to post $454M bond owed to state in bid to appeal fraud ruling
Donald Trump can’t come up with almost half a billion dollars he owes the New York attorney general for committing largescale fraud, his lawyers told an appeals court Monday.
With one week to go before the former president’s deadline to put down at least $454 million to appeal the mammoth judgment without its consequences taking effect, Trump’s lawyers said he was unable to secure the cash. They noted he needed to find closer to $557 million as most bond agents require 120% as security.
“[Very] few bonding companies will consider a bond of anything approaching that,” Trump lawyers Alina Habba and Cliff Robert wrote, asking the First Department Court of Appeals to hear oral arguments over his effort to halt enforcement of the crushing ruling while he appeals.
“The case involves no actual victims and no award of restitution, and [the AG] is fully protected by Defendants’ real-estate holdings.”
If Trump doesn’t secure a ruling from the appeals court pausing Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron’s Feb. 16 ruling from taking effect or lowering the security deposit, he’ll have to post the total with the court by March 25 to automatically prevent the AG from beginning the collection process — whether by asking the sheriff to seize his properties, including famed New York properties such as Trump Tower, or through other means.
The GOP front-runner in the 2024 presidential race appealed Engoron’s devastating ruling on
Feb. 26. He previously failed to convince the midlevel appellate court to allow him to deposit a smaller sum of $100 million while appealing.
According to Monday’s filing, Trump’s lawyers unsuccessfully asked 30 underwriters to back the eye-popping bond, and none of them were willing to accept his properties as collateral.
The ex-president, who says he’s worth billions and has at least $400 million in cash, gave up after “countless hours negotiating with one of the largest insurance companies in the
world,” according to an affidavit from Gary Giulietti, a broker and longtime friend of Trump’s, who testified for the defense at trial.
The broker, whose word Trump’s lawyers asked the appeals court to rely on, was described as a questionable witness in Engoron’s ruling finding Trump liable for fraud.
Engoron said Giulietti was the first expert witness he’d encountered in 20 years on the bench “who not only was a close personal friend of a party, but also had a personal financial interest in the outcome of the case for which he is being offered as an expert,” noting he made $1.2 million in commissions from Trump’s company in 2022.
The AG’s office declined to comment on Trump’s problems paying the bond. Trump’s lawyers could not be reached.
Engoron’s ruling found Trump and his top executives at the Trump Organization liable for multiple fraud claims in AG Tish James’ September 2022 case. Evidence presented at the nearly three-month trial showed that for years, they intentionally lied about Trump’s net worth, often by billions, to secure better terms in business deals.
Among other penalties, the judge barred Trump from running a New York business for three years and ordered him and his crew to pay around $464 million. Trump’s majority cut is increasing by around $112,000 daily with interest.
Last week, Trump, who’s also facing four criminal cases, posted more than $91 million bond owed to writer E. Jean Carroll, for whom he was found liable for sexually assaulting and defaming in two cases during the past year. He is appealing.