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A New York State appeals court reduced bond in the civil fraud case against former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants to $175 million from the $464 million judgment — and they have 10 days to post it.
The ruling was handed down on March 25 by a panel of state Appellate Division judges, all appointed by Democratic governors. The four-time indicted businessman said he “greatly respects” the decision, as his attorney had said coming up with the original bond amount was a “practical impossibility.”
“I greatly respect the decision of the appellate division and I’ll post the $175 million in cash or bonds or security or whatever is necessary very quickly within the 10 days,” Trump said as he left the New York courtroom. “And I thank the appellate division for acting quickly.”
Before the ruling, Trump was responsible for paying $454 million, a majority of the fraud judgment. That amount increased by more than $111,000 a day due to additional interest. On his Truth Social site, the presumptive GOP nominee claimed he had close to $500 million in cash that he planned to use for his 2024 presidential campaign. However, he hasn’t used his own money toward his presidential campaigns since first running in 2016.
To fund his campaign, Trump has pushed the idea of mortgaging or selling off his properties, claiming he would be forced to do so at “Fire Sale prices.”
According to court filings, Trump’s legal team noted that normally, bond companies “require collateral of approximately 120% of the amount of the judgment.” In this case, it would have been about $557 million.
In one filing a week ago, Trump’s lawyers said they hadn’t been able to secure a bond and had approached 30 companies through four separate brokers in an attempt to negotiate with the world’s largest insurance companies. Other bond companies will not “accept hard assets such as real estate as collateral” but “will only accept cash or cash equivalents” like marketable securities, his lawyers said.
While the ruling is a win for the Trump team, it’s considered a loss for state Attorney General Letitia James’ office, pausing their push to begin collecting on the judgment. With this revelation, Alina Habba, Trump’s attorney, took the opportunity to mock James. “We won,” Habba said on Fox News’ Jesse Watters Primetime.
“You know, no — we didn’t win. You know when we’ll win? When we get this all reversed, which is what’s gonna happen.”
Habba has openly criticized James and Judge Arthur Engoron, who originally ordered Trump to pay $355 million before interest upon ruling that Trump conspired to lie about his net worth in order to receive better treatment from banks and insurers. The attorney said James had to “eat every single tweet” she’ once’d posted, and challenged the DA to post online after the court’s decision, saying she “would love to see” what James had to say.
“So, what happened today was that Letitia had to eat every single tweet she has posted since the day the twisted order from Judge Engoron came out with the ridiculous number with the disgusting injustice on the American people, not just Donald Trump,” Habba said.
She didn’t get her wish, however, as James was tweeting from Washington, D.C., defending access to Mifepristone, an FDA drug used for abortions. “Mifepristone is safe and effective, and it has been used by millions of people,” James wrote. “I’ll never stop fighting because it’s your body, and it should always be your choice.”
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