NEW YORK POST
New York Attorney General Letitia James will be free to start going after Donald Trump’s prized properties should the former president fail to make the deadline to post the $454 million bond in his civil fraud case.
Trump, 77, on Monday filed papers in an appeal court case seeking to get out of having to post the bond as he fights the massive judgment from February — which accrues $112,000 in interest daily.
The presumptive Republican 2024 presidential nominee had approached over 30 firms to secure the bond — to no avail — and he’s facing “insurmountable difficulties” getting the financial backing, his attorneys wrote in the filings.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron ordered the hefty judgment against the real estate mogul in February after a three month trial in which the AG’s office argued Trump exaggerated his net worth by billions a year on financial statements to get better loan and insurance terms.
Why does Trump have to post a $454 million bond ?
Trump has said he plans to fight Engoron’s decision, but he must either put the full judgment amount in escrow or secure a bond to show he’s good for the money if he loses his appeal.
“If you’re trying to appeal a financial penalty, the courts want to make sure if you lose at the end of the day you can pay the penalty,” said Kevin J. O’Brien, a former prosecutor and current defense attorney in New York, adding it was “standard procedure.”
“This is an attempt to keep appellants honest,” O’Brien explained.
“The real difficulty is the size of the judgment is so huge.”
The bond would require Trump to post 120% of what he owes with collateral — amounting to $557.5 million, according to his lawyers.
Trump previously sought to lower the bond amount to $100 million and is now seeking to get out of paying the bond altogether.
O’Brien said that if Trump can prove to the court that he is likely to ultimately win his appeal, he “might have an argument” to get the bond amount lowered.
Could Trump sell off or mortgage his properties?
Trump’s side argued that he shouldn’t be forced to sell his properties in a “fire sale” in order to come up with the cash because he’d suffer irreparable losses in the selling them for cheap and would never be able to get them back at the same price if he won the ultimate appeal of the judgement.
Trump could try to take out a mortgage on any of his properties to make the massive bond — but the move wouldn’t come without a hitch, legal experts said.
He may already be “mortgaged to the hilt” and lenders could be “reluctant to do business with him” given his legal problems, financial problems and all of the “scrutiny” that is now on him, said O’Brien.
Trump’s lawyers said that he’d been in talks with 30 firms as he attempted to secure the whopping bond but all the negotiations had fallen through as the companies wouldn’t except his properties as collateral.
O’Brien said, “that’s the way it goes” and it’s “unlikely the appellate division is going to be moved just because he has to sell assets.”
