Trump Posts Bond to Freeze $454 Million Fraud Fine During Appeal

(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump followed through on his vow to pay a $175 million bond that will put a massive civil fraud verdict on hold while he appeals, assuring New York state won’t start seizing the former president’s assets, at least for now.

The bond, posted with an appeals court in Manhattan on Monday, prevents enforcement of a $454 million penalty a judge levied against the real estate mogul for lying about his assets to get better loan terms. Trump, who is campaigning to return to the White House in the November election, is still on the hook for the full amount if his appeal fails. 

Trump initially had struggled to get a bond because he was required to put up 120% of the full penalty, or more than half a billion dollars. But the appeals court on March 25 granted his request for a smaller bond, which Trump claimed was a sign the appeals court would overturn the verdict.

The former president had said a full bond was “unattainable” because 30 insurance companies that arrange such bonds wouldn’t take his real estate as collateral and would only take cash. New York Attorney General Letitia James, who sued Trump and won at a non-jury trial, had argued a full bond was necessary because Trump can’t be trusted to pay the fine if he loses the appeal.

Getting the smaller bond helped Trump overcome one the biggest financial obstacles of his career. Without it, the former president claimed he’d be forced to hold a “fire sale” of assets to raise cash, hurting his ability to run his company and pay for his 2024 election campaign. His losses from such sales would be irreversible, he argued, even if he won the appeal. 

James, a Democrat, had said she would seize his assets to cover the judgment if he didn’t arrange the bond. Her office had already begun laying the ground work to do so in nearby Westchester County, where Trump owns a golf course and a 212-acre estate called Seven Springs.

Trump previously posted an appeal bond to cover an $83.3 million verdict against him in writer E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit, which he lost in January. Trump also faces four criminal prosecutions, including two cases alleging he conspired to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election. His first criminal trial, over charges he falsified business records to conceal a hush money payment to a porn star before the 2016 election, is set to go to trial April 15 in Manhattan.

Trump denies wrongdoing in all the cases and claims without evidence that they’re part of a Democratic-led “witch hunt” against him to undermine his campaign.

Read More: Keeping Up With Trump and His Trials

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.