New York state lawyers urged the Court of Appeals on Wednesday not to accept former President Trump's claims that it is impossible to post a bond that fully covers a $454 million civil fraud judgment during his appeal.
Lawyers for the presumptive Republican nominee said earlier this week that he had been unable to find a guarantor willing to foot the full amount. But the state says Trump and the other defendants did not explore all options.
“Defendants failed to propose a serious alternative to fully secure the verdict,” Dennis Vann, an attorney with the state Attorney General’s Office, wrote in papers he sent to the appeals court.
He suggested those alternatives could include splitting the total between multiple bonds from different guarantors — or allowing the court to keep some of Trump's properties during his appeal. The former president is appealing a judge's ruling last month that he, his company and top executives inflated his wealth on financial statements used to obtain loans and insurance.
Christopher Casey, one of Trump's lawyers, said in a statement that the papers showed Atty. Gen. Letitia James' “continued willingness to distort facts and misinterpret applicable law in her political campaign” against Trump. James is a Democrat, and Trump has repeatedly described her as a party official trying to weaken his campaign.
In a radio interview early Wednesday, Trump repeated his complaints about the case, the ruling and bond requirements.
“They don't even give you a chance to appeal. They want you to pay the money before you appeal. If you sell a property or do something and then win the appeal, you don't have the property,” Trump said on WABC's “Sid & Friends in the Morning.”
Under the ruling, Trump must pay more than $454 million in ever-increasing fines and interest; Some of his co-defendants owe additional money. Until now, the courts have said that if the former president wanted to delay collection while he appealed, he would have to post a full liability bond.
Trump said last year that he had “well over $400 million in cash.” But he now faces more than $543 million in personal legal liabilities from judgments in the civil fraud case, brought by James, and in two lawsuits filed by writer E. Gene Carroll. The advice columnist said Trump sexually assaulted her in the 1990s, then defamed her after she filed a complaint in 2019.
He denies all accusations.
Trump recently posted a $91.6 million appellate bond to cover the judgment, plus interest, in one of Carroll's lawsuits. In the other case, he posted more than $5 million in escrow during his appeal.
But in a lawsuit Monday, Trump's lawyers asked the state's intermediate appeals court to spare him from having to post bail for the $454 million judgment in the business fraud case.
“It is not possible under the circumstances presented,” the lawyers wrote. They said the insurers insisted on cash or other liquid assets rather than real estate as collateral, which must cover 120% of the judgment, or more than $557 million.
Insurance broker Gary Giulietti — a golf buddy of Trump who handles some of his company's insurance needs and testified on his behalf in the fraud trial — wrote in a sworn statement that “a bond of this size is rarely, if ever, seen.” The few given go to large public companies, Giulietti said. Trump's company is private.
But Fann, the attorney in the district attorney's office, wrote on Wednesday that “there is nothing unusual about even judgments worth up to $1 billion being fully bonded on appeal,” citing a handful of cases. They were largely involved in publicly traded companies.
Fann asked the appeals court to reject Trump's request to delay collection, without merit, during the appeal.
If the Court of Appeal does not intervene, James could begin taking steps on March 25 toward implementing the ruling. The prosecutor said she would seek to seize some of Trump's assets if he was unable to pay.
Jennifer Peltz writes for The Associated Press. AP writers Michael R. Sisak and Jill Colvin contributed.
