NYC appeals court cuts Trump’s bond to $175 million in fraud case, holding off property seizure
NEW YORK — A New York appeals court showed Donald Trump some mercy Monday, allowing him to post a bond of $175 million — rather than nearly half a billion — to ward off foreclosures while he fights the outcome of his civil fraud case.
In a brief order, a five-judge panel at the 1st Department Appellate Division agreed to pause enforcement of the more severe elements of the devastating court decision handed down last month finding Trump liable for fraud if he fronts a portion of the cash he’s been ordered to pay within 10 days.
The order means Trump won’t have to worry that eviction notices will go up on his prized properties while he appeals Judge Arthur Engoron’s Feb. 16 judgment, which found him liable for large-scale fraud, provided he comes up with the $175 million on time. It came down within the final hours of a grace period for him to secure the money with the court and while the former president was sitting in court in his criminal hush money case.
When asked about his response to the ruling at the criminal courthouse, Trump gave the New York Daily News a big thumbs-up. Later, in a fundraising email, he said, “TRUMP TOWER REMAINS MINE!”
Outside the courtroom, the Republican presidential front-runner said it would be his “honor” to post a security or bond and framed the ruling as tantamount to an exoneration.
“We appreciate and respect the appellate division very much,” Trump said. “We have a judge who is a crooked judge and a crooked attorney general, absolutely crooked. We did nothing wrong at all, 100%, and that was proven, and everybody there said it was proven.”
In a statement to the Daily News, Trump’s lead attorney in the fraud case, Chris Kise, said the ruling represented “a great first step towards the ultimate reversal of a baseless and reckless judgment.”
A spokeswoman for New York Attorney General Tish James said Trump was “still facing accountability for his staggering 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. The $464 million judgment — plus interest — against Donald Trump and the other defendants still stands,” James’ spokeswoman said.
The appeals court also paused other parts of Engoron’s judgment from taking effect, including industry bans against Trump, his sons, Eric and Don Jr., and former finance executives Allen Weisselberg and Jeffrey McConney, and a ban on taking out loans from financial institutions in New York. They said the extended and enhanced duties of court-appointed monitors babysitting Trump’s company would remain in place.
Engoron found Trump and his crew habitually inflated his net worth in business deals with banks and lenders following a nearly three-month trial, at which Trump and all of his adult children testified.
“Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological,” Engoron found. “They are accused only of inflating asset values to make more money. The documents prove this over and over again.”
Evidence showed the former president and his top executives bloated his bottom line by as much as $3.6 billion year-to-year — by exaggerating the value of his properties like Trump Tower, Mar-a-Lago, and his Wall Street skyscraper — during the decade ending in his presidency, saving them hundreds of millions of dollars in interest.
Trump’s side argued during the trial that their habits were standard in the real estate biz, that he always paid back his loans on time, that he was worth substantially more than his annual financial statements claimed, and that those statements came with a disclaimer telling banks to do their own homework.
Once Trump secures the bond, it won’t go to the AG but will remain under the court’s supervision until he’s exhausted his appeals. He faced the threat of property seizures without assuring James that he would be good for the money if he eventually lost his legal fight.
Trump previously failed to convince the appeals court to let him guarantee the bond with a down payment of $100 million. Last week, his lawyers said they had hit up 30 underwriters for a half billion, who all declined to accept his buildings as collateral.
AG James, who had agreed last month to hold off on enforcement measures until Monday, told ABC that she was prepared to go after Trump’s assets if it transpired he couldn’t satisfy the growing fine. Trump’s share of the $464 million is expanding $112,000 daily with interest every day he doesn’t resolve it.
“If he does not have funds to pay off the judgment, then we will seek judgment enforcement mechanisms in court, and we will ask the judge to seize his assets,” James said in February.
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