Former President Donald Trump was unable to obtain a bail bond $464 million fraud verdict His lawyers argued against him in court on Monday.
Trump and his company must post the full bond by next week to prevent New York Attorney General Letitia James from collecting that time. appeals. They asked the appeals court to intervene in the meantime and said Monday they had no success in getting a bond.
“Defendants’ continued efforts proved that it was “practically impossible” to post the full judgment bond. “This effort included approaching 30 surety companies through 4 separate brokers.”
Their efforts, including “countless hours of negotiations with one of the world’s largest insurance companies,” proved that “collecting the full amount of the appellate debt” of the Judgment was “impossible under the circumstances presented.”
Other bond companies “will not accept hard assets such as real estate as collateral” and “will only accept cash or cash equivalents (such as marketable securities).” He also noted that those companies typically “ask for collateral of about 120% of the judgment amount” — which would be about $557 million.
“Additionally, the sureties will likely receive bond premiums of about 2 percent per year starting two years in advance — at an initial cost of more than $18 million,” he said. That $18 million won’t be refundable even if Trump wins his appeal.
In general, the filing states, the approach is “the actual amount of cash or cash equivalents required to secure the bond and to have sufficient capital to operate the business and meet its other obligations.”[es] 1 billion dollars,” the document says.
While the petition states that Trump cannot pay the debt, it also claims that the attorney general is not worried about being able to obtain his judgment.
“Defendants’ real estate holdings, including iconic properties such as 40 Wall Street, Doral Miami, and Mar-a-Lago, far exceed the judgment amount. Such assets cannot be secretly hidden or disposed of, effectively securing the plaintiff during the review of the appeal,” the application states.
Trump’s team also argued that the $464 million penalty was “grossly disproportionate,” citing their argument during the months-long trial that “there are no victims because there was no harm and no financial loss.”
In a filing last month, Trump’s attorneys asked for his bond to be lowered to $100 million, but Monday’s filing claims he should post no bond.
James’ office argued that Trump should deposit the entire amount.
In a separate case in New York federal court, Trump sent a news release last week $91 million bond to provide writer E. Jean Carroll $83 million defamation judgment appeals against that judgment against him.