Donald Trump’s lawyers told a New York appeals court on Monday that he would not be able to post bond to cover the full amount of his $454 million civil fraud verdict while he appeals.
“Under the circumstances, it is not possible to obtain the full appeal bond of the judgment,” the former president’s lawyers wrote in a court filing.
Including interest, Trump owes $456.8 million. He and co-defendants, including his companies and executives, are owed a total of $467.3 million. Trump’s lawyers said they would need to post $557 million worth of collateral in order to obtain the bond.
A state appeals court judge ruled last month that Trump must post the full bond to stay execution of the sentence, which is set to begin on March 25.
Judge Arthur Engoron ruled in February that Trump, his companies and executives, including his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. Donald Trump Jr., conspired for years to defraud banks and insurance companies by exaggerating his wealth on financial statements used to obtain loans and make transactions.
Among other penalties, the judge placed severe restrictions on the ability of Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, to conduct business.
Trump asked the full jury of the state’s intermediate appeals court to stay the verdict while he appeals. His lawyers had proposed a $100 million bail, but Appeals Court Judge Anil Singh rejected the offer. A stay is a legal mechanism that halts collections while he appeals.
A real estate agent hired by Trump to help secure the bonds wrote in an affidavit filed with the court that few surety companies would consider issuing bonds of the size required.
The remaining guarantee companies will not “accept hard assets such as real estate as collateral,” but instead “only accept cash or cash equivalents (such as marketable securities).”
“Bonds of this size are rare. In the unusual case of a bond of this size being issued, it is being offered to the world’s largest public companies rather than individuals or private businesses,” broker Gary Giulietti wrote.
Trump filed the appeal on February 26, a few days after the verdict was officially announced. His lawyers have asked the Appellate Division of the state’s trial court to rule on whether Ngolon “committed errors of law and/or fact” and whether he abused his discretion or “exceeded” jurisdiction.
Trump can appeal without paying a fine or posting bail, and filing an appeal does not automatically stop execution of the sentence.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, said she would seek to seize some of Trump’s assets if he is unable to pay the judgment.
If Trump posts funds, assets or appeal bonds to cover the debt he owes, he will automatically receive a moratorium. He also has the option of asking the Court of Appeal to post a lower bond and grant a stay, an option he is currently exercising.
Trump insists he is worth billions and testified last year that he had about $400 million in cash in addition to properties and other investments.
In January, a jury ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million to author E. Jean Carroll for defamation over her 2019 accusation that Trump had an affair in Manhattan in the 1990s. She was sexually assaulted in a department store. Trump recently posted a bond in that amount while he appeals.
A jury last year awarded Carroll $5 million in a related trial.
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