Trump wins partial stay of fraud judgment
An appeals court panel said Monday that former president Donald Trump would be allowed to post a $175 million bond to stave off enforcement of a nearly half-billion dollar civil judgment against him and his business.
The order Monday morning was a significant win for Trump, who was otherwise facing a massive cash crunch and the prospect of New York Attorney General Letitia James seizing some of his assets as soon as this week.
However, while the five state judges on the panel lifted the financial cloud over Trump, they did not erase it entirely. They gave Trump 10 days to come up with the reduced bond of $175 million, saying they would only delay enforcement of the full amount if he put up that money within this window.
Trump’s attorneys had previously sought to post a $100 million bond, rather than the full amount, and have not said whether he can meet the $175 million threshold. “We’ll put up the cash or a bond very quickly,” Trump told reporters Monday.
The panel’s order came at a precarious moment for Trump, who is contending with significant financial pressure and legal peril. The appeals panel’s order on Trump’s bond came down while he was in a New York court in a bid to delay the start of his criminal case related to hush money payments made to an adult film actress. The justice rejected
that effort and said the case will go to trial April 15.
Separately, Trump has also been ordered by two civil juries to pay nearly $90 million to the writer E. Jean Carroll. He also faces charges in four criminal cases, including the hush money case in New York.
The civil fraud judgment against Trump, meanwhile, stems from a lawsuit that James brought against him and his company, as well as his two eldest sons and two executives. James’s lawsuit said Trump misstated the value of his properties and other assets by up to $2.2 billion a year from 2011 to 2021.
New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, who heard the case, in February issued a written decision that assailed Trump and the other defendants, saying they showed a staggering “lack of contrition of remorse.” He ordered that Trump pay the hefty judgment, which comes out to more than $450 million — with interest that continues to accrue at a rate of more than $100,000 per
day.
The former president immediately vowed to appeal that ruling, but to stop James from collecting in the meantime, he was required to put up a bond in the full amount.
Trump’s attorneys have suggested that he would struggle to finance an appeal bond of that size, saying they had tried and failed to get more than two dozen companies to help secure the bond. They said none of the companies would take Trump’s real estate — which accounts for most of his wealth — as collateral, and instead required he put up cash.
The appeals court panel did not reduce the initial judgment Monday, only the amount Trump needs to put up for a bond while appealing.
In his remarks to reporters during and after the hearing in the hush money case, Trump thanked the appeals court. When asked how he would pay or secure the $175 million bond, Trump replied, “I have a lot of cash” before adding that he would “like to be able to use some of my cash to get elected.”
Trump has long used his legal jeopardy to rally supporters, arguing that he is being politically targeted. Polling showed that after he was indicted last year, his support among Republicans increased. And even though Monday’s appeals court ruling boiled down to an order that he must find $175 million to stop state authorities from taking his assets, he hailed it as a victory over Engoron and James, claiming in a social media post that the ruling “shattered” their credibility.
James’s office had argued against Trump’s attempts to stay the entire judgment or let him post a lower amount. On Monday, after the panel released its order, James’s office said that the underlying outcome of the trial remained in place.
“Donald Trump is still facing accountability for his staggering fraud,” a spokesperson for her office said. “The court has already found that he engaged in years of fraud to falsely inflate his net worth and unjustly enrich himself, his family, and his organization. The $464 million judgment — plus interest — against Donald Trump and the other defendants still stands.”
Although the appeals court gave no reasoning for its decision, Adam Pollock, an attorney who formerly served as assistant attorney general in New York, said the decision could indicate that it might consider permanently reducing the judgment against Trump on appeal.