Donald Trump will post on the massive $354 million ruling against him in his New York fraud trial, his lawyer Alina Habba said Monday, amid intense speculation on how he will raise the cash.
Judge Arthur Engoron ruled Friday in a 92-page order that Trump must pay the stunning amount in a ruling where he blasted the former president for a ‘complete lack of contrition and remorse.’
The payments will exceed $450 million with interest, and come after another court ordered Trump to pay $83 million to E. Jean Carroll after a jury found him liable for defamation.
Trump has testified that he had more than $400 million in cash, but there are questions about his ability to raise the funds from his real estate empire.
‘I would never get in to anything privileged,’ Habba told Fox News on Monday.
Trump lawyer Alina Habba said her client will post bond after New York Judge Arthur Engoron ordered him to pay $354 million following his fraud trial
‘I can tell you what the rules are. Within 30 days, even if we choose to appeal this, we have to post the bond, which is the full amount and then some. We will be prepared to do that,’ she said.
Bond agents typically charge 9 per cent as a form of insurance in order to put up the money.
Trump’s challenge will be to secure the bond even at a time when Engoron put control of his company in the hands of an additional independent monitor, and prohibited him from running any company in New York State for a period of three years.
He had blasted the ruling days after Trump vented about it online and at campaign events. ‘You’re looking at roughly let’s call it close to $400 million for something that he did nothing wrong,’ she said.
‘What they’re trying to do between this case and my last case is put him out of business,’ she said. ‘It’s not going to work.’ She called it a ‘scare tactic,’ but insisted: ‘He’s strong. He’s resilient, and he happens to have a lot of cash.
‘It’s insane,’ she said.
Habba didn’t say if Trump would have to liquidate assets in order to come up with the cash.
Trump is estimated to be worth more than $2 billion, but much of his wealth is tied up in partnerships and complex real estate holdings, including two dozen buildings and a domestic and overseas golf and real estate empire.
Trump has blasted the ruling and plans to appeal
Trump has railed against the ruling and vowed to appeal
By posting bond, Trump would avoid liquidating a massive amount of assets in order to raise the cash. Trump Tower, where Trump’s triplex apartment came up in court, is worth a net $56 million when $100 million in debt is subtracted, according to one estimate
New York AG Letitia James found its liquid assets were $93 million as of 2020.
He claimed in a deposition for the suit brought by New York AG Letitia James to have $400 million in cash, saying it was ‘a lot for a developer.’
Habba’s response after she called the statement a ‘manifest injustice’ in her initial response after Friday’s bombshell ruling.
The clock starts ticking on Trump’s 30 days to raise funds once a formal judgment goes into effect.
George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley blasted the dollar amount as ‘grotesque,’ and said the damages exceed the gross national product of countries including Micronesia.
But state law requires him to come up with the cash in order to appeal, which Trump has said he will do.
Trump lawyer Chris Kise told Newsweek the appeal would come within the 30-day window.
‘The case raises serious legal and constitutional questions regarding “fraud” claims/findings without any actual fraud,’ he said.
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