NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s lawyers told a New York appeals court on Monday that it is impossible for him to post a bond covering the full amount of a $454 million civil fraud judgment while he appeals.
The former president’s lawyers wrote in a court filing that “obtaining bond for the full amount” of the judgment “is not possible under the circumstances presented.”
Trump’s lawyers have asked the state’s interim appeals court to overturn an earlier ruling requiring him to post a bond covering the full amount to halt enforcement while he appeals the verdict in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit.
With interest, Trump owes $456.8 million. In total, he and co-defendants, including his company, sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr. and other executives, owed $467.3 million. To obtain a bond, they would have to post collateral worth $557 million, Trump’s lawyers said.
Trump is appealing against Judge Arthur Engoron, who ruled in February that he, his company and top executives, including his sons, schemed for years to deceive banks and insurers by inflating his wealth with financial statements used to secure loans couples and close deals.
Among other penalties, the judge imposed strict limits on the ability of Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, to do business.
Trump has until March 25 to pay the judgment or obtain a court order known as a stay that would prevent enforcement while he appeals. James, a Democrat, has said she will try to seize some of Trump’s assets if he cannot pay.
James’ office declined comment Monday on Trump’s inability to secure a bond.
In a court filing last week, Senior Deputy Attorney General Dennis Fan wrote that a full bond was necessary, in part because Trump’s lawyers “have never shown that Mr. Trump’s liquid assets — which can fluctuate over time — will be sufficient to satisfy the full amount of this judgment upon appeal.”
Trump’s lawyers asked the intermediate court of appeals, the Appellate Division of the state’s Supreme Court, to consider oral arguments on his request, and they preemptively sought permission to appeal a losing outcome to the Supreme Court of the state, the Court of Appeals.
Trump is asking a full Appellate Division panel to suspend the verdict while he appeals. His lawyers previously proposed posting a $100 million bond, but Appellate Division Judge Anil Singh rejected that after an emergency hearing on February 28. A stay is a legal mechanism that pauses the collection of a judgment during an appeal.
Singh granted some of Trump’s requests, including suspending a three-year ban on applying for loans from New York banks.
A friendly insurance broker who was hired by Trump to help obtain a bond wrote in an affidavit filed with the court that few bond companies will consider issuing a bond of the required size.
The remaining bond companies “will not accept hard assets such as real estate as collateral,” but “will only accept cash or cash equivalents (such as marketable securities).”
“A band of this size is rarely, if ever, seen. In the unusual circumstance of a bond of this size being issued, it is being issued to the largest publicly traded companies in the world, and not to individuals or private companies,” wrote broker Gary Giulietti.
Giulietti, who acts as an insurance broker for Trump’s company, testified at Trump’s civil fraud trial as an expert witness called by the former president’s lawyers. In his ruling, Engoron noted that some of Giulietti’s testimony was contradicted by other witnesses, including another defense expert.
Engoron wrote that in his more than two decades as a judge he had “never encountered an expert witness who was not only a close personal friend of a party, but also had a personal financial interest in the outcome of the case for which he is being offered as an expert.” .” He noted that Giulietti’s company collected $1.2 million in commissions on his Trump accounts in 2022.
Trump appealed on February 26, a few days after the verdict was made official. His lawyers have asked the Appellate Division to decide whether Engoron “committed legal and/or factual errors” and whether he abused his discretion or “acted outside his jurisdiction.”
Trump did not have to pay his fine or post a bond to appeal, and filing the appeal did not automatically stop enforcement of the sentence.
Trump would get an automatic reprieve if he posted money, assets or an occupational bond to cover what he owes. He also had the option, which he is now exercising, to ask the Court of Appeal to grant a postponement with a bail amount for a lower amount.
Trump claims he is worth several billion dollars and testified last year that he had about $400 million in cash, in addition to property and other investments.
In January, a jury ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million to writer E. Jean Carroll for defaming her after she accused him in 2019 of sexually assaulting her at a Manhattan department store in the 1990s. Trump recently posted a bond to cover that amount while he appeals.
That’s in addition to the $5 million a jury awarded Carroll in a related lawsuit last year. Trump has deposited more than $5.5 million into an escrow account while he appeals the decision.
