Trump request to delay penalty denied

Judge refuses to pause $450m fraud decision

NEW YORK — Donald Trump on Wednesday lost his initial bid for a New York appeals court to pause the more than $450 million judgment he faces in a civil fraud case, exposing him to potential financial peril.

Trump told the appeals court that it was “impossible” to secure a bond of more than $450 million — any company providing a bond would most likely require the former president to pledge cash and other collateral — and offered to post one of only $100 million.

Any bond that the appeals court accepts would prevent the New York attorney general’s office, which brought the case, from collecting from Trump while he appeals.

In court filings, Trump’s lawyers said he might need to sell some properties at fire-sale prices unless the court cuts him a break, a stunning acknowledgment of his financial limitations.

Yet the former president might still avoid that costly outcome.

Wednesday’s ruling came from a single appellate court judge assigned to consider Trump’s emergency request. Trump can try again with a panel of five appellate court judges, which next month will entertain his request to pause the judgment and accept a smaller bond.

For now, the initial ruling is a setback for Trump, who is racing the clock. If he ultimately fails to secure a bond, the attorney general, Letitia James, could seek to collect from him at any moment.

Although the office is expected to provide a 30-day grace period that would expire March 25, it has the power to move swiftly to seize Trump’s bank accounts and potentially take control of his New York properties.

However the case is resolved, Trump’s request for relief represented a humbling concession from a man whose public image is synonymous with wealth.

His conspicuous displays of gold-plated luxury underpinned his rise to tabloid fame, a stark contrast with the current spectacle of him scrambling to avert financial peril.

A lawyer for Trump, Christopher Kise, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In seeking relief, Trump’s lawyers disclosed that he would be unable to secure a bond for the full $454 million. Under New York law, a defendant also owes 9 percent interest to the plaintiff until the judgment is paid or the appeal resolved, meaning a full bond might reach $500 million or more.

“The exorbitant and punitive amount of the judgment coupled with an unlawful and unconstitutional blanket prohibition on lending transactions would make it impossible to secure and post a complete bond,” the lawyers wrote.

They also asked the appeals court to delay a wide range of other punishments that the trial judge in the fraud case, Arthur Engoron, levied in a decision this month. They include a prohibition on obtaining a loan from a New York bank for three years and a ban on running a company in the state during that same period.

The appellate court judge assigned Wednesday to consider Trump’s filing, Anil Singh, granted the former president’s request to temporarily pause those punishments.

Financial relief might also come from a separate deal: Trump’s stake in Trump Media & Technology Group, his social media company, could be worth up to $4 billion after a long-delayed merger is made final this year, though it won’t be in time for James’s March 25 deadline.

In its own filing, James’s office asked the appeals court to deny Trump’s request.

“There is no merit to defendants’ contention that a full bond or deposit is unnecessary because they are willing to post a partial undertaking of less than a quarter of the judgment amount,” the attorney general’s office wrote. “Defendants all but concede that Mr. Trump has insufficient liquid assets to satisfy the judgment.”

James built her case on the accusation that Trump had fraudulently inflated his net worth by as much as $2 billion. He did so, James argued, to obtain favorable loans and other financial benefits.

Engoron sided with James, concluding that Trump defrauded his lenders, who had expected him to maintain a certain net worth.

Trump’s net worth is largely derived from real estate, and the sum of the judgment in the civil fraud case and the $83.3 million judgment he faces from a defamation trial involving writer E. Jean Carroll eclipses his stockpile of cash.

NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL LETITIA JAMES If Donald Trump fails to secure a bond, the AG could seek to collect at any moment.