A New York appeals court denied Donald Trump’s request to freeze the $454 million judgment against him in his civil fraud case.
Trump sought to post a $100 million bond while appealing, but the judge required the full amount.
Trump’s lawyers said, “The exorbitant and punitive amount of the judgment coupled with an unlawful and unconstitutional blanket prohibition on lending transactions would make it impossible to secure and post a complete bond.”
The Attorney General’s office said, “There is no merit to defendants’ contention that a full bond or deposit is unnecessary because they are willing to post a partial undertaking of less than a quarter of the judgment amount.”
The AG’s Office said, “Defendants all but concede that Mr. Trump has insufficient liquid assets to satisfy the judgment.”
Failure to post the bond by a March deadline could allow the NY Attorney General to seize Trump’s assets.
“However the case is resolved, Mr. Trump’s request for relief represented a humbling concession from a man whose public image is synonymous with wealth,” reported the New York Times.
“His conspicuous displays of gold-plated luxury underpinned his rise to tabloid fame, a stark contrast with the current spectacle of his scrambling to avert financial trouble,” the outlet continued.
Legal experts said Trump may struggle, as his wealth is largely in illiquid real estate, and the judgment exceeds his reported $350 million cash assets.
Mark Zauderer, a partner at law firm Dorf Nelson & Zauderer, saiid, “The $100 million bond resembles an opening real estate bid.”
Zauderer said, “But here, the negotiation will end, because it is the court that will determine the actual dollar amount of security, not Trump.”
Tim O’Brien, Bloomberg Opinion’s senior executive editor said, “He spent 55 or so of his 78 years lying or bloviating about how much money he has, and now when push comes to shove, a man who has routinely said he’s a multibillionaire is having trouble scratching up several hundred million dollars to make a court judgment.”
O’Brien said, “He’s not going to be a free agent to sell out his stake without his partner allowing him to.”
“Everybody in New York real estate or anywhere else he has a property now knows he is going to be selling under duress if he has to. And he is not going to get a good price for some of these properties,” said O’Brien.
“He’s arrived in this place because he and his lawyers decided fairly early on to try to beat up the judge in this case,” O’Brien continued.
O’Brien said, “The judge came down with a very hard penalty, and Trump’s in a corner.”
The ruling was a blow to Trump’s efforts to avoid financial trouble from the penalty, which along with an $83 million defamation award, calls into question his public claims of vast wealth.
Trump has a slim chance of successfully pausing the judgment on appeal due to his litigation strategy and failure to prove his true net worth in the fraud case.
