By MICHAEL R. SISAK (Associated Press)
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s lawyers told a New York appellate court Monday that it’s 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 legal team stated in a court filing that it is not feasible to obtain an appeal bond in the full amount of the judgment given the circumstances.
Trump’s legal representatives asked the state’s intermediate appeals court to overturn a previous ruling that required him to post a bond covering the full amount in order to halt enforcement while he appeals the judgment in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit.
Including interest, Trump owes $456.8 million. Altogether, he and co-defendants, including his company, sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr. and other executives, owe $467.3 million. To secure a bond, they would need to post collateral worth $557 million, according to Trump’s legal team.
Trump is appealing Judge Arthur Engoron's ruling in February that he, his company, and top executives, including his sons, engaged in a scheme to deceive banks and insurers for years by inflating his wealth on financial statements used to secure loans and make deals.
Among other penalties, the judge imposed strict limitations on the ability of Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, to conduct business.
Trump must pay the judgment or obtain a court order known as a stay by March 25 to prevent enforcement while he appeals. If he is unable to pay, James, a Democrat, has said she will seek to seize some of Trump’s assets.
James’ office declined comment Monday on Trump’s inability to secure a bond.
A court filing by Senior Assistant Solicitor General Dennis Fan last week stated that a full bond was necessary, in part, because Trump’s lawyers “have never demonstrated that Mr. Trump’s liquid assets — which may fluctuate over time — will be enough to satisfy the full amount of this judgment following appeal.”
Trump’s lawyers asked the intermediate appeals court, the Appellate Division of the state’s trial court, to consider oral arguments on its request, and they preemptively sought permission to appeal a losing result to the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals.
Trump is asking a full panel of the Appellate Division to stay the judgment 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 Feb. 28. A stay is a legal mechanism pausing collection of a judgment during an appeal.
Singh did grant some of Trump’s requests, including pausing a three-year ban on him seeking loans from New York banks.
An insurance broker friend enlisted by Trump to assist in obtaining a bond wrote in an affidavit filed with the court that few bonding companies will consider issuing a bond of the size required.
The remaining bonding 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 bond of this size is rarely, if ever, seen. In the rare circumstance that a bond of this size is issued, it is given to the largest public companies in the world, not to individuals or privately owned businesses,” broker Gary Giulietti wrote.
Giulietti, who serves 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 defense lawyers. In his ruling, Engoron noted that some of Giulietti’s testimony was contradicted by other witnesses, including a different defense expert.
Engoron stated that in his more than 20 years as a judge, he’d “never encountered an expert witness who not only was 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 pointed out that Giulietti’s company earned $1.2 million in commissions on its Trump accounts in 2022.
Trump filed an appeal on Feb. 26, a few days after the judgment was made official. His lawyers have asked the Appellate Division to determine whether Engoron “committed errors of law and/or fact” and whether he abused his discretion or “acted in excess” of his jurisdiction.
Trump was not obligated to pay his penalty or post a bond in order to appeal, and filing the appeal did not automatically stop enforcement of the judgment.
Trump would get an automatic halt if he were to put up money, assets or an appeal bond covering what he owes. He also had the option, which he is now using, to ask the appeals court to grant a halt with a bond for a lower amount.
Trump claims that he is worth several billion dollars and testified last year that he had about $400 million in cash, along with properties 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 in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s. Trump recently posted a bond covering that amount while he appeals.
That’s in addition to the $5 million a jury awarded Carroll in a related trial last year. Trump has put more than $5.5 million in an escrow account while he appeals that decision.
