In New York, a clerk has officially recorded a fraud judgment exceeding $464 million against former President Donald Trump and key executives at his company. The judgment will accumulate additional daily interest of over $114,000 until fully paid.
This marks the commencement of the timeframe within which Trump can file an appeal and post a bond for the awarded amount. Failure to do so will empower the New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office to initiate collection proceedings against Trump and his co-defendants in the civil fraud case.
The lion’s share of the $464,576,230.62 judgment, precisely $454,156,783.05, is directed at Trump and his associated companies. The daily interest on the judgment against Trump will accrue at a rate of $111,983.86 until the entire sum is settled, as outlined by the Attorney General’s office.
The remaining portion of the judgment pertains to Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, who have overseen the Trump Organization since 2017, along with former top executives Allen Weisselberg and Jeff McConney.
This total includes the prejudgment interest calculated on the initial award of over $350 million handed down by Judge Arthur Engoron last week.
Despite attempts by Trump’s legal team to postpone the entry of the judgment, likely to secure more time for bond financing, this request was rejected by Engoron on Thursday.
Before signing the judgment, Engoron sent an email to Clifford S. Robert, the Trump attorney, saying, “You have failed to explain, much less justify, any basis for a stay.” The clerk’s entry of the verdict made it official on Friday.
Fox News on Monday was informed by Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba that “we will be prepared” to release the bond amount.
The bond is going to be very expensive. Although the amount of a bond required can vary, New York courts normally demand up to 120% of the judgment, which includes all pre-judgment interest. This implies that he might be required to deposit a bond exceeding $500 million.
According to a source in the AG’s office who spoke to NBC News, it is unclear if the identity of the individual or business paying will be made public if Trump posts the necessary bond.
Engoron concluded last week that Trump and his top executives had knowingly participated in a large-scale, ongoing scheme to falsely inflate his assets in financial statements in order to benefit from advantageous loan and insurance rates to which he was not legally entitled.
This ruling came after a trial that lasted several months. In addition to prohibiting Trump from “serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity in New York for a period of three years,” including his namesake company, the judge ordered him to pay what he determined to be the “ill-gotten gains” from his years-long fraud.
Trump insisted that the investigation was a part of a massive Democratic plot to bring him down and that he had done nothing wrong.
Trump suffered a setback last month when writer E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit against him resulted in a $83.3 million award. On February 8, the case’s decision was entered. Trump has stated that he intends to fight the decision as well, which would necessitate posting a bond that is greater than that sum.
Trump’s attorneys requested in a court filing on Friday that the judge overseeing that case delay the deadline for him to post a bail until thirty days following the decision on his post-trial requests to lower the verdict amount.
“In the alternative, President Trump requests that this Court grant a partially secured stay of execution until 30 days after the resolution of post-trial motions and authorize President Trump to post a bond in an appropriate fraction of the amount of the judgment,” the paperwork stated.
In a statement, Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba stated, “The figure awarded to Ms. Carroll is egregiously excessive.” The Court must take action to stop Ms. Carroll from enforcing this ridiculous ruling, as it is not appealable.
