Trump is Appealing His $464 Million Fraud Verdict — And He Has to Put Up Money Now To Stop His Property From Being Seized

AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

Former President Donald Trump, his adult sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and two former Trump Organization officials have officially appealed nearly half a billion dollar fraud verdict entered against them in a New York court earlier this month — meaning he’ll have to put up a massive pile of money to secure his assets during that appeal.

The case started with a civil lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), who sought to force the Trump Org to disgorge $370 million in profits for falsifying the values of their assets, bar Trump and his adult sons from doing business in New York, and revoke the company’s certificate to do business in the state.

Engoron already dealt a sharp blow to Trump last September, ruling in favor of James’ motion for summary judgment and finding the ex-president liable for the core claim in the’ lawsuit that Trump had committed fraud by massively inflating the value of his assets by billions of dollars and exaggerating his net worth in order to secure financing and close deals. That order also appointed an independent monitor to oversee the company’s assets.

Judge Arthur Engoron’s ruling ordered Trump to pay nearly $355 million, Donald Jr. and Eric to each pay $4 million, and ex-Trump Org chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg to pay $1 million. The order also barred Trump from serving as a corporate officer or a director of a company in New York for three years, and barred his sons for two years. The Trumps did avoid the so-called “corporate death penalty;” Engoron declined to revoke the Trump Org’s certificate to do business in New York.

The monetary verdicts also incur pre- and post-judgment interest under New York law, bringing the total amount owed by the Trumps to over $464 million, a growing figure that James has been updating daily with posts on The Platform Formerly Known as Twitter.

The appeal was not a surprise — CNN Newsroom anchor Jim Acosta described it as “breaking but not shocking news” Monday morning — and Trump will have to put up the cash or post bond to sustain the appeal, as chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid noted.

Trump’s ability to scrape together nearly half a billion dollars is complicated by a civil defamation verdict in January awarding writer E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million, in addition to a prior $5 million verdict she previously won against the ex-president in a related case.

As CNN reported, the “common practice” in this New York court district is to require a bond of 110 percent, a staggering sum in light of these cumulative verdicts.

The New York fraud case and the Carroll verdicts “could wipe out a substantial amount of Trump’s liquid assets,” reported Adam Klasfeld at Just Security, noting that the ex-president had said in a deposition that his assets were “‘substantially in excess’ of $400 million,” and a Bloomberg analysis “estimated Trump’s liquid assets at $600 million.”

The cash or bonds aren’t technically needed to file an appeal but to protect his assets from being seized and sold by James (who has openly gloated about targeting some of Trump’s prized landmark buildings). As reported by the Washington Post:

[Trump] must immediately grapple with the enormous sums that are at stake: To keep both judgments from being enforced while he appeals, he must put up the entire amount in either cash or bonds, according to legal experts. Usually, defendants must put up such bonds within 30 days of a final judgment to keep the plaintiff from collecting, experts said.

Most of Trump’s wealth is tied up in real estate, and it’s not clear whether he has enough cash on hand to cover what he now owes. Trump has not said how he plans to put up the money…

Any route Trump chooses will come with complications. Paying the entire amount in cash could rock the stability of his business. But seeking a bond — in which a third party would guarantee payment if Trump loses his appeal — could be equally costly. Difficult decisions will have to be made quickly, even as Trump’s family company undergoes a court-ordered leadership shake-up that may take some of those decisions out of the hands of Trump and his sons, who have also helped run the company.

Watch the clip above via CNN.

This article has been updated with additional information to clarify the purpose of the bonds.