Former President Donald Trump is finding it difficult to secure a bond in his New York $454 million civil fraud case. Trump’s lawyers wrote in a court filing Monday that “‘obtaining an appeal bond in the full amount’ of the judgment ‘is not possible under the circumstances presented,’” according to The Associated Press.
His attorneys also asked the New York appellate court to overturn the ruling made by New York Appellate Judge Anil Singh last month, denying Trump’s request to delay the penalty payment set by Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron’s ruling in early February.
Engoron’s ruling of the case brought on by New York Attorney General Letitia James penalized Trump with a $355 million penalty in damages as well as banning him from constructing business in the state for three years, while his two adult sons were each given $4 million penalties and two-year business bans.
So far, Trump has contacted as many as 30 insurance companies to back the bond due at the end of this month — and none of them have accepted.
“Defendants have faced what have proven to be insurmountable difficulties in obtaining an appeal bond for the full $464 million,” said Trump Organization general counsel Alan Garten, per ABC News.
Trump’s lawyers have stated that while he might have to offer his real estate as security for the bond, the possible underwriters insist on cash as collateral instead of property.
“So far, according to Garten’s affirmation, no surety bond provider approached by Trump is willing to accept real estate as collateral, including Chubb, the insurance giant underwriting Trump’s $91.6 million bond to cover the $83 million judgment in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case, plus interest,” ABC News added.
Gary Giulietti, an insurance broker who testified for Trump at the civil fraud trial, submitted a sworn statement stating that obtaining a bond for the entire sum “is a practical impossibility,” according to CNN. He stressed that Trump would need to come up with around $550 million after including added interest and fees.
“Over the course of my career, during which I have been directly or indirectly involved in the issuance of thousands of bonds, I have never heard of nor seen an appeal bond of this size for a private company or individual,” Giulietti said, per CNN. “After substantial good-faith effort over the last several weeks, obtaining an appeal bond for the Judgment Amount of over $464 million is just not possible under these circumstances.”
In response to Engoron’s judgment, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said, “A bond of this size would be an abuse of the law, contradict bedrock principals of our Republic, and fundamentally undermine the rule of law in New York. President Trump will continue fighting and beating all of these Crooked Joe Biden-directed hoaxes and will Make America Great Again,” per CNN.