Former U.S. President Donald Trump interviews the media after voting at a polling station at the Morton and Barbara Mandel Recreation Center in Palm Beach, Florida, on March 19, 2024.
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Donald Trump faces serious risks as New York’s attorney general on Monday will begin trying to collect a $454 million civil business fraud judgment against him unless an appeals court grants the former president a last-minute reprieve.
Trump’s son Eric, co-defendant in fraud case, accuses attorney general Letitia James On Sunday, he sought to bankrupt his father through a verdict.
Donald Trump’s lawyers say he can’t afford an appeal bond that would prevent the attorney general from collecting the judgment as he seeks to overturn a fraud conviction, while James told an appeals court last week that his request to stay the sentence should be denied effective immediately.
“They’re trying to take away his cash, they’re trying to bankrupt him, they’re trying to seriously hurt him,” Eric Trump told Fox News.
“It’s counterproductive because he’s going to win in November and everyone in the country knows what these people are doing,” Eric said.
Eric also said: “No one has ever seen such a large bond.”
“When I got to them, everyone was like ‘Hey, can I get a half-billion-dollar bond?’ … (T)hey were laughing. They were laughing,” Eric said.
Just days before Eric filed his complaint, news broke that James’ office had registered a massive fraud verdict with the Westchester County, New York, County Clerk’s Office. The registration would be required if James were to seize Trump’s golf courses and Seven Springs estate in the county to partially satisfy the judgment.
Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump, Eric and his other adult son, Donald Trump Jr., face off against two men after their trial in Manhattan Supreme Court Company executives were collectively found responsible for the Trump Organization’s fraud. James’ office is a plaintiff in the case.
Last month, Judge Arthur Ngoren found that the defendants fraudulently inflated the stated value of Trump’s assets to increase his purported net worth and obtain more favorable loan terms for Trump Organization properties. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have run their father’s company since he was elected president in 2016.
Ngolon ordered compensation of $464 million in ill-gotten gains and interest in the case, most of which was borne by the elder Trump. However, Trump’s sons were each ordered to pay $4 million.
Donald Trump asked an intermediate appeals court last week to put a stay on the verdict, with his lawyers saying it had proven “impossible” for him to obtain an appeal bond.
Such a bond would guarantee that the state would receive the judgment if Trump loses his appeal in the case and is unable to satisfy the judgment.
Trump’s lawyers have said the surety companies want him to have more than $1 billion in cash or equivalents before they would consider underwriting an appeal bond in the case.
The lawyer said in a court filing that he had contacted more than 30 companies seeking bonds, but all refused to accept the real estate as collateral.
If the appeals court does not grant Trump the right to waive the verdict, he can ask the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, to grant him one. However, it is unclear whether Trump will have much success on this level.
Monday is the first day James can begin seizing Trump’s property to satisfy the sentence without being blocked by a court order.
The losing party in a New York civil case usually must post an appeal bond or be held liable for the judgment against them if they appeal the judgment.
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