Former President Donald Trump is unable to secure a multimillion-dollar bond to cover penalties he owes in a civil fraud case in New York, his attorneys said in a court filing Monday.
Trump and his former Trump Organization associates owe the state $464 million, including penalties, and while Trump is appealing the ruling against him, he must still guarantee the full amount by March 25. Posting a bond would allow Trump to do this while his appeal proceeds.
“The practical impossibility of obtaining a bond interferes with Defendants’ right to appeal and threatens this Court’s appellate jurisdiction,” Trump’s attorneys wrote.
They argued that “very few bonding companies” would even consider providing a bond “of anything approaching that magnitude.”
They asked the appellate division of the New York Supreme Court to stay the judgment, issued last month by Judge Arthur Engoron. They also stated that courts have “routinely” waived or reduced bond requirements during appeals when securing the amount of the bond becomes impractical.
While Trump has an estimated net worth of more than $2.6 billion, he has roughly $413 million in liquid funds, according to Forbes.
The former president’s attorneys indicated that Trump would need to resort to selling his assets quickly to be able to reach the amount he currently owes in the civil fraud case. This would violate Trump’s appeal rights, they argued.
“Obtaining such cash through a ‘fire sale’ of real estate holdings would inevitably result in massive, irrecoverable losses — textbook irreparable injury,” they wrote.
Engoron awarded Attorney General Letitia James the massive damages last month after he found Trump, his two adult sons, and two Trump Organization executives had overstated the former president’s wealth on financial statements for years to achieve more favorable loan terms.
Trump’s attorneys on Monday called the judgment “grossly disproportionate and unconstitutional” and argued that it would “not survive appellate review.”
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James previously warned in her own court filing that if Trump does not pay the sum by next week’s deadline, she will begin taking measures to retrieve it, such as by seizing his New York assets.
Trump’s request that the appellate division stay or reduce the bond requirement comes after the former president fulfilled this month another hefty bond obligation of $91 million in a defamation case brought in New York by E. Jean Carroll. Trump is also appealing the verdict in that case.