Trump Posts $175 Million Bond in New York Fraud Judgment
When Judge Engoron ruled that Trump would have to pay more than $350 million (which was more than $460 million with interest and fees) in the New York civil fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, it was clearly going to be a problem for Trump.
That number represented about 20% of Trump’s total wealth, so he clearly could not put that much up on his own without selling off properties.
The good news for Trump was that an appeals court ruled the bond requirement to be excessive, lowering the bond to $175 million, which Trump has been able to secure.
Gotcha!
Most legal experts I have read believe the judgment against Trump was excessive, but their criticism of the case did not stop there.
There was also significant criticism of Judge Engoron's ruling that the bond for the judgment would not be decreased.
A judgment of this size would have required Trump to either empty out his available cash to pay or sell off properties because no lender would guarantee a bond of that size.
This put Trump in a position of almost having to forfeit his right to appeal, which would have led to James seizing Trump’s properties.
The problem was that her valuations of the properties were so low that she would have virtually seized Trump’s entire portfolio.
Trump, however, won the appeal, and much to the chagrin of James, the bond was lowered to $175 million.
On Monday, Trump posted the bond, with attorney Alina Habba stating, “As promised, President Trump has posted bond.
“He looks forward to vindicating his rights on appeal and overturning this unjust verdict.”
I have always stated two things about this case: Trump would lose the initial case and he would win outright on appeal or have the judgment significantly reduced.
Now that Trump has posted bond, he can begin the appeals process and take this case to the Supreme Court if necessary.
Regardless of where it ends up, I still firmly believe that Engoron’s judgment will be reduced or outright vacated.
