Donald Trump faces an imminent court judgment that could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars due to bank fraud committed by the Trump Organization.
New York laws will require him to front the money to appeal the decision, along with a high state interest rate.
“It’s not often that there are cases like this where the person’s financial ability to pay is really in question,” N. Alex Hanley said.
“The subject of the case is whether the values of his properties are what he says they are,” Hanley said. “He may have some trouble with that.”
The situation is exacerbated by his financial claims and potential limitations on accessing funds.
Trump’s credibility issues make it challenging to find surety companies and banks for the appeal.
“Sureties require an indemnification agreement, a contract for the bond. Now a concern would be: How do you perfect an indemnity of the person that could be the next sitting president? How do you take that person to court?” Neil Pedersen asked.
“These companies are pretty conservative by nature. They’re not likely to get involved in something that they think will get dragged on for a long time—and potentially not get paid for it. This has never been done, so it’s completely unprecedented,” Hanley said.
“It doesn’t go smoothly when the government holds your cash. I just hear horror stories,” Pedersen said.
“Appeal bonds always have to be collateralized. He would have to put up liquid collateral in the form of cash, a letter of credit from a bank, or a pledge of non-retirement account publicly traded securities,” Pedersen said.
“In a divisive case like this, lots of companies would decline to be involved in it. The death threats. The pitchforks. I’ve had that happen in many cases that aren’t nearly as high-profile,” Hanley said.
The high-profile nature of the case and the potential financial repercussions create a unique and complex situation for Trump.
“Is he even allowed to use his assets to secure the bond? Because the corporation could be defunct. What if the court says you have to sell everything? The court can denude him of his assets… and those assets are the very thing he’d need as collateral,” criminal defense lawyer Evans D. Prieston said.
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