In court filings in Manhattan yesterday, representatives for Donald Trump said the former President was unable to post a bond to secure the $464 million civil trial fraud judgment against him. Trump needs to find the money while he tries to appeal the ruling. If he fails, some of his assets and property faces seizure.
His lawyers wrote that “obtaining an appeal bond in the full amount” of the judgment “is not possible under the circumstances presented.”
They said he’d approached 30 bond underwriters but without success. His lawyers are asking that the bond be reduced. They previously suggested a bond of $100million. However, that was rejected in late February.
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The prosecution, led by District Attorney Letitia James, relates to the Trump organization inflating the value of its assets to obtain favorable loans. Both Trump Sr. and his two adult sons have been fined, but it’s the former President who must pay the most.
With interest, Trump now owes the state of New York $456.8 million. That’s increasing by approximately $112,000 a day.
Trump’s lawyers say Trump’s wealth is tied up in property and golf courses. However, bond providers want cash or stocks as assurance they might get their money back.
Donald Trump has consistently lambasted the decision on his social media and blasted it a politically-motivated “witch hunt”. However, a video of Trump at a rally in South Carolina last month has reappeared to haunt him.
In it, he stresses the importance of people paying their bills.
“You got to pay your bills,” he says.
Trump can’t find a company dumb enough to front him $464 Million for his bond and Jared and Ivanka aren’t returning his calls. pic.twitter.com/OFp09cSMFt
Trump’s comment on that occasion was related to NATO. Trump has often expressed ambivalence toward the military pact and the amount the US contributes. He recalled telling a former head of state that if their country didn’t pay their allocated bill to NATO, they could not rely on the US to defend them. He said he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want”.
“I would not protect you,” Trump told the politician, as he recounted to the rally crowd. “In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You’ve got to pay. You’ve got to pay your bills,” he remembered saying.
Trump is now scrambling around to pay his bills. Besides the $450million+ he needs to come up with in New York, there’s also the $83 million he still needs to pay E. Jean Carroll for defamation.
Some of his supporters are aghast that no other billionaires are coming to Trump’s rescue.
Trump’s “pay your bills” comments are not the only ones to have aged poorly. His lawyer, Alina Habba, was bullish a few weeks ago when she said that Donald Trump would comfortably survive any financial penalties because of his wealth.
“This guy is worth a lot of money, billions and billions of billions of dollars…He happens to have a lot of cash,” she claimed.
Trump attorney Alina Habba on Trump last month:
“This guy is worth a lot of money, billions and billions of billions of dollars…He happens to have a lot of cash.” pic.twitter.com/aKXm8qLgVj
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) March 18, 2024
Trump’s legal woes have prompter little sympathy from most corners of the internet.
Kid Rock has donated all of his last albums earnings to Trump: $413 cash 12 catalytic converters 34 bottles of Sudafed pic.twitter.com/7cItr6iJXh
Trump’s failure to secure a bond was not the only bad news to hit the former President yesterday. A judge in his hush-money case dismissed the Trump team’s objections and will allow Storny Daniels and Michael Cohen to testify in the case.
The case was due to go to court later this month. However, it has been postponed by a few weeks after new evidence came to light. It is still due to commence this spring and will be Trump’s first criminal trial. Trump allegedly paid hush money to Daniels to keep quiet about a brief affair they had. Cohen also says Trump falsified business records to hide the hush money payments. Trump denies the 34 charges relating to this.
In financial terms, Trump does have one ray of hope. He owns a majority stake in Truthy Social. His company, Trump Media & Technology Group, owns at least 58% of the platform.
Trump is trying to float the company on the stock exchange. If that happens, he could be due a windfall worth “billions”, according to The Hill. However, it depends on whether other shareholders agree to the sale. A shareholder meeting is taking place this Friday.
If agreed, any public flotation may take several months to complete. Whether that would help him in the short run, in terms of securing a bond, is unclear.
