Attorneys of Former President Donald Trump said on Monday, March 18, 2024, that he is facing “insurmountable difficulties” in obtaining a bond to satisfy the $464 million civil fraud judgment. The attorneys said this in a new appellate court filing, the magnitude of which would require him to use real estate as collateral.
In February 2024, Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump to pay $464 million in disgorgement and interest. The judge’s decision came after finding Trump guilty of conducting a decade’s worth of business with fraudulent financial statements. According to court documents, the statements overvalued his real estate holdings and hyped his wealth.
Furthermore, the judge also barred Trump from leading any New York company for three years. Judge Engoron also fined his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, $4 million and barred them for two years. However, in a new appellate filing, Trump’s attorneys say he can’t secure the $464 million bond.
“Defendants have faced what have proven to be insurmountable difficulties,” Trump Organization general counsel Alan Garten said in an affirmation. “In obtaining an appeal bond for the full $464 million.” Garten noted that Trump is “financially stable” and maintains “substantial assets.”
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However, he argued that the judgment would require him to use his real estate as collateral for the bond. According to Garten’s affirmation, no surety bond provider approached by Trump is willing to accept real estate as collateral. This includes Chubb, the insurance giant underwriting Trump’s $83 million judgment in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case, plus interest.
“Defendants’ ongoing efforts have proven that a bond in the judgment’s full amount is a practical impossibility,” the filing read. “These diligent efforts have included approaching about 30 surety companies through 4 separate brokers.”
According to MAGA supporters, Trump has been the target of “selective and vindictive prosecution” throughout the 2024 campaign. However, many claim the most prominent case of this “arbitrary prosecution” is the classified documents case.
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On Thursday, March 14, 2024, Judge Aileen Cannon raised many issues regarding Trump’s classified documents charges. However, Trump supporters say that is not the only case of such selective prosecution.
They pointed to Judge Engoron’s civil penalty against Donald Trump, which he ruled without a jury of his peers. Furthermore, they claimed Judge Engoron slapping Trump with several restrictions against operating his businesses in New York was unconstitutional.
There is also the Carroll case against Donald Trump, where the court awarded the plaintiff $83 million. Trump supporters faulted the ruling, saying a jury failed to find Trump guilty of rape. Furthermore, Trump supporters say Carroll could not recall basic facts to substantiate her case and misstated vital details.
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Similarly, on Friday, March 15, 2024, Judge Scott McAfee declined to remove Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis from the case. Despite numerous documented ethical violations, the court opted that Willis fire her lover and special prosecutor, Nathan Wade. This is as “selective and vindictive” an abuse of the law as it gets.
Trump’s attorneys, who have called the civil fraud judgment “unconstitutionally excessive,” asked an appellate court to allow a lesser bond. “Obtaining such cash through a ‘fire sale’ of real estate holdings,” defense lawyers Alina Habba and Clifford Robert wrote. “Would inevitably result in massive, irrecoverable losses.”
While Trump’s appeal will prompt an automatic stay of the ruling, he must first post a bond. However, the interest will continue to accrue if he posts a bond to cover the fine during his appeal.
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