Former President Donald Trump posted $175 million bail on Monday in his civil fraud case in New York, halting collection of the more than $454 million he owes.
The deposit deposited also prevents the State from seizing your assets to satisfy the debt while he appealsaccording to a court file.
A New York appeals court had given the former president 10 days to come up with the money after a panel of judges agreed last month to cut the amount needed to stop the law enforcement clock.
The bond Trump is now presenting to the court is essentially a placeholder, intended to guarantee payment if the sentence is upheld.
If that happens, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate will have to pay the state the full sum, which grows with daily interest.
Former President Donald Trump posted $175 million bail on Monday in his civil fraud case in New York, halting collection of the more than $454 million he owes.
If Trump wins, he will not have to pay anything to the state and will get back the money he has contributed now.
Until the appeals court intervened to reduce the required bail, New York Attorney General Letitia James was prepared to launch efforts to collect on the judgment, possibly seizing some of Trump’s most important properties.
James, a Democrat, filed the lawsuit on behalf of the state.
She had said that if Trump had not complied with a $454 million court judgment against him by then in his fraud trial in New York, she would begin seizing property, noting that Trump’s prized Art Deco skyscraper at 40 Wall Street could be in your sights.
He also appears to be eyeing Trump’s golf club in Westchester and the Seven Springs property, recording judgments in Westchester County.
The former president was furious on the Internet at the possibility that the State could act against him. He wrote a series of fundraising speeches in which he asked New York to “keep its dirty hands off Trump Tower.”
The court ruled after Trump’s lawyers complained that it was “a practical impossibility” to get an insurer to approve bail for the $454 million, plus interest, he owes.
Trump is fighting to reverse a judge’s finding of February 16 that he he lied about his wealth while fostering the real estate empire that launched him to stardom and the presidency.
Until the appeals court intervened to reduce the required bail, New York Attorney General Letitia James was prepared to launch efforts to collect on the judgment, possibly seizing some of Trump’s most important properties.
James had said that if Trump had not satisfied a $454 million court judgment against him by then in his fraud trial in New York, he would begin seizing property, noting that Trump’s prized Art Deco skyscraper at 40 Wall Street could be in their sights.
The trial centered on how Trump’s assets were valued in financial statements that went to bankers and insurers for loans and deals.
Trump denies wrongdoing, says statements actually reduced his fortunecame with disclaimers and were not taken literally by the institutions that lent or insured him.
The Appellate Division of the state courts has said it will hear arguments in September. No specific date has been set. If the schedule holds, it will fall in the final weeks of the presidential race.
Under New York law, filing an appeal generally does not postpone the execution of a sentence.
But there is an automatic pause – in legal jargon, a suspension – if the person or entity obtains a bond that guarantees payment of what is owed.
Courts sometimes grant exceptions and reduce the amount required for a suspension, as in Trump’s case.
Trump’s lawyers had told the appeals court that more than 30 bail bond companies were unwilling to accept a combination of cash and real estate as collateral for bail of more than $454 million.
The insurers insisted only on cash, stocks or other liquid assets, the lawyers said.
Trump denies any wrongdoing and says the statements actually reduced his fortune, came with disclaimers and were not taken at face value by the institutions that lent or insured him.
Trump’s lawyers had told the appeals court that more than 30 bail bond companies were unwilling to accept a combination of cash and real estate as collateral for a bail bond of more than $454 million.
They said most bail bond companies require collateral that covers 120% of the amount owed.
Trump recently claimed he had nearly $500 million in cash, along with billions of dollars in real estate and other assets, but said he wanted to have some cash available for his presidential run.
Recent legal debts have taken away a sizable chunk of Trump’s cash reserves.
In addition to the $175 million he had to put up in the New York case, Trump has posted bail and cash worth more than $97 million to cover money he owes writer E. Jean Carroll while he appeals verdicts. in a pair of federal civil cases. essays.
Jurors found that he sexually assaulted her in the 1990s and defamed her when she went public with the accusation in 2019. He denies all allegations.
In February, Trump paid the $392,638 in legal fees that a judge ordered him to cover for The New York Times and three reporters after he unsuccessfully sued them over a 2018 Pulitzer Prize-winning story about his family’s tax and estate practices.
In March, a British court Trump ordered to pay legal fees of £300,000 ($382,000) to a company he unsuccessfully sued over the so-called Steele dossier that contained lewd allegations about him. Trump said those claims were false.
Trump could eventually generate cash by selling some of the almost 60% of the stock owns in his new public social media company, Trump Media & Technology Group, but that would be a longer-term bet.
His stake could be worth billions of dollars, but a “lockup” provision prevents insiders like him from selling their shares for six months.