NY Appeals Court Reduces Trump’s Bond to $175M in Civil Fraud Case
By Abigail Nehring March 25, 2024 1:43 pm
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Former President Donald Trump will have an easier time raising the funds necessary to keep his New York holdings — for now.
A New York appeals court slashed Trump’s bond from $464 million to $175 million in a ruling Monday in the civil fraud case against him and other Trump Organization executives.
The ruling by a panel of five judges gives Trump 10 more days to pull together the cash to appeal the outcome of the case before New York Attorney General Leticia James can begin seizing his bank accounts and real estate assets.
Trump was in danger of losing some of his biggest New York properties — including 40 Wall Street — if he wasn’t able to post the $464 million judgment against him after he was found liable for fraudulently inflating the value of his real estate.
The Republican frontrunner for president has been looking for creative ways, like taking his social media company Truth Social public, to raise the cash, but his lawyers previously said it was “a practical impossibility” to get the $464 million bond in time.
A spokesperson for the Trump Organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement on his campaign website, Trump said he planned to “abide by the decision” Monday and would post the $175 million either by cash or with a bond.
Last month, a state Supreme Court judge barred Trump from doing business in New York for three years and ordered him to pay $355 million in penalties, plus interest. Trump had been found to have inflated the value of some of the Trump Organization’s properties — including 40 Wall and Trump Seven Springs — in order to woo lenders into offering more favorable financial terms. That judgment amount has now grown to more than $464 million.
The case now will likely take months to wind its way through the New York appeals court before the trial judge’s decision is upheld or overturned.
“Donald Trump is still facing accountability for his staggering fraud,” a spokesperson for Attorney General James said in a statement. “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.”
Abigail Nehring can be reached at anehring@commercialobserver.com.
