Donald Trump posts $175 million bond in New York civil fraud case to avoid having his assets seized

Former US President Donald Trump has posted a $175 million bond in his New York civil fraud case to avoid having his assets seized.

The posted bond also prevents the state from seizing his assets to satisfy the debt while he appeals his case over-inflating the value of businesses, according to a court filing.

According to Mail Online, a New York appellate court had given the former president ten days to put up the money after a panel of judges agreed last month to slash the amount needed to stop the clock on enforcement.

The bond Trump is posting with the court now is essentially a placeholder, meant to guarantee payment if the judgment is upheld.

If that happens, Trump will have to pay the state the whole sum, which grows with daily interest.

Should Trump win, he won’t have to pay the state anything and will get back the money he has put up now.

 

Until the appeals court intervened to lower the required bond, New York Attorney General Letitia James had been poised to initiate efforts to collect the judgment, possibly by seizing some of Trump’s marquee properties.

 

James, a Democrat, brought the lawsuit on the state´s behalf.

 

She had said if Trump hadn’t made good on a $454 million court judgement against him by then from his New York fraud trial, she will begin seizing properties.

 

She also appears to be eyeing Trump’s Westchester golf club and Seven Springs estate, registering judgments in Westchester County.

 

The former president was boiling over online at the prospects the state may act against him. He wrote a series of fundraising pitches telling New York to ‘keep your filthy hands off Trump Tower.’

 

The court ruled after Trump´s lawyers complained it was ‘a practical impossibility’ to get an underwriter to sign off on a bond for the $454 million, plus interest, that he owes.

Trump is fighting to overturn a judge’s Feb. 16 finding that he lied about his wealth as he fostered the real estate empire that launched him to stardom and the presidency.

 

The trial focused on how Trump’s assets were valued on financial statements that went to bankers and insurers to get loans and deals.

 

Trump denies any wrongdoing, saying the statements actually lowballed his fortune, came with disclaimers, and weren´t taken at face value by the institutions that lent to or insured him.

 

The state courts´ Appellate Division has said it would hear arguments in September. A specific date has not been set. If the schedule holds, it will fall in the final weeks of the presidential race.