On Monday, an appeals court in New York granted former President Donald Trump the relief he sought by lowering the bond amount in his case involving corporate fraud.
According to Bloomberg , Trump had stated he would have to sell properties at a loss in order to raise the $464 million initial bond amount.
As a result, the court lowered Trump’s bond to merely $175 million. He has ten days from now to get the bond; if he doesn’t, his assets risk being confiscated and frozen.
In February, Justice Arthur Engoron issued an order dictating that the former president and his adult sons were required to pay $464 million for fraudulently misrepresenting their assets’ values and net worth over a period of more than ten years in order to secure advantageous loan terms.
Trump was granted a thirty-day window, which ended on Monday, to pay the fine or obtain a bond to cover the decision while he files an appeal.
Trump stated the judge “saw a similar amount in his bank account” and that’s why he was ordered to pay the fine, which is about half a billion dollars. In his own words, he planned to “use much of that hard earned money on running for president.”
His attorneys repeatedly asked to have the bond sum lowered, claiming that it was “insurmountable.” The former president even declared that he would need to sell his assets at a “fire sale” in order to raise the funds.
In an appearance with Fox News on Sunday, Trump’s son Eric revealed that they had been laughed at by multiple insurance companies when they asked for assistance with the bond.
Eric Trump declared, “Nobody’s ever seen a bond this size.” “When I approached each and every one of them and said, ‘Hey, can I get a half-billion-dollar bond?’ They were giggling. Large insurance company officials had never seen anything like this.”
The New York Attorney General’s Office denied requests to lower the sum and threatened to take Trump’s property if necessary.
Trump will be assessed interest on his share of the $464 million judgment, which comes to $112,000 for every day that the judgment remains unpaid, if he fails to post bond by the deadline. Additionally, it would authorize Letitia James, the attorney general of New York, to freeze his bank accounts and take his belongings, including his Manhattan residences.
