Former President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference at 40 Wall Street on March 25, 2024 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
A New York appeals court on Monday suspended a massive civil white collar fraud ruling against Donald Trump for 10 days — and dramatically reduced the amount of bail he must post to secure a longer stay of that award to $175 million.
The ruling came on the same day that New York Attorney General Letitia James could begin seizing the former president’s real estate assets and bank accounts to satisfy a $454 million judgment that continues to mount after it he had failed to obtain bail for the appeal.
James is prevented from doing so – for now – by the order of the five-judge panel of the Appellate Division of the Manhattan Supreme Court, which gave no reason for lowering the bail threshold by about 60%.
“We will release whatever is necessary, whether it be cash, collateral or bonds,” Trump told reporters after leaving a hearing in the same court where his trial on criminal business records related to a hush money payment to a porn star was scheduled for the April 15th.
Earlier on Monday, he railed in a Truth Social post that he could be forced to sell his “babies” – real estate assets – to satisfy the ruling while he appeals a judge’s ruling that he and others For years, defendants had fraudulently inflated the stated value of real estate when taking out loans.
Trump’s lawyers previously asked that bail for the appeal in the case be set at $100 million.
In a court filing last week, those lawyers said it would be “impossible” for Trump to obtain a $454 million appeal bond after unsuccessfully contacting more than 30 bond companies. Trump’s two adult sons, his company, the Trump Organization, and two executives, all of whom were co-defendants in the case, owe a total of about $10 million in additional damages.
None of the bond companies would be willing to underwrite a $464 million bond without Trump putting up cash or other liquid assets, the lawyers wrote in their filing with the Appellate Division.
Because of the magnitude of the fraud verdict, the companies insisted that Trump report “close to $1 billion in cash reserves,” according to his lawyers. But neither Trump nor the Trump Organization has that much cash, the filing says.
While Monday’s appeals court ruling lowers the amount of the appeal clause required, it does reduce the scope of the judgment in the case, which resulted from a lawsuit filed by James.
If Trump and the other defendants lose their appeal, they would be entitled to the entire sentence unless the appeals court reduces it.
“Today’s ruling represents a major first step toward finally overturning a baseless and reckless ruling,” Trump lawyer Charles Kise said in a statement.
“The [appellate division] “There is no doubt that the rule of law must triumph over the attorney general’s political agenda,” Kise said. “President Trump looks forward to a full and fair appeal process that overturns the conviction and puts an end to the Attorney General’s abuse of power and tyrannical prosecution of the front-runner for President of the United States.”
A spokesman for James said: “Donald Trump still has to answer for his incredible fraud.”
“The court has already found that he engaged in years of fraud to falsely inflate his net worth and unjustly enrich himself, his family and his organization,” James’ spokesman said.
“The $464 million judgment – plus interest – against Donald Trump and the other defendants stands.”
In its order Monday, the appeals court also suspended Judge Arthur Engoron’s ruling that had barred Trump from serving as an officer or director of a New York company for three years and barred him and corporate defendants from applying for loans from New York York had banned York lenders for the same period.
The order also reversed Engoron’s decision that had banned Trump’s sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump from serving as officers and directors of New York companies for two years.
But the appeals court rejected a request to block enforcement of Engoron’s order, which expanded and strengthened the role of a financial regulator the judge had appointed to oversee the Trump Organization’s finances. The panel also approved Engoron’s order to install an independent compliance director at Trump’s company.
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Engoron, who presided over a trial for the lawsuit, ruled against the Trump defendants in February, saying they submitted “blatantly false financial information” to improve Trump’s financial reports and obtain better loan terms.
Trump has condemned the ruling, the judge and James, saying he was the victim of a politically motivated attack designed to harm his chances of defeating President Joe Biden in the November election.
More than a week ago, Trump received a $91.6 million bond from a subsidiary of the Chubb insurance company to secure a defamation judgment against him in federal civil court in Manhattan in favor of E. Jean Carroll, a writer who accused him accused of rape.
That bond, which was secured by a Trump brokerage account, will prevent Carroll from collecting a more than $83 million judgment from Trump while his appeal is pending.
According to Alan Garten, a lawyer for the Trump Organization, Chubb had discussed issuing a second bond to Trump for his fraud case and was initially willing to consider a mix of cash and real estate as collateral.
But Chubb backed away from those talks last week, Garten said in the court filing Monday. Chubb’s exit came after it became public knowledge that Trump had received his bond in the Carroll case from the company.
Chubb CEO Evan Greenberg wrote a letter last week to investors, customers and brokers who had expressed concerns about the Carroll-related bond.
“When Chubb issues an appellate bond, it does not enter judgment on the claims, even if the claims allegedly involve reprehensible conduct,” Greenberg wrote.
“As a guarantor, we don’t take sides,” he said.
“It would be wrong for us to do this and we do not support the defendant in any way. We support and are part of the justice system affected in this case.”
—CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger contributed to this article.
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2024-03-25 19:01:40
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