Ex-US President Trump Gets Relief In $464m Civil Fraud Case

• Trump has been battling several civil and criminal legal issues for months.

• In one of the civil cases, the former president and other defendants were ordered to pay a $464 million bond to appeal a judgment.

• He has won his bid to reduce the bond.

Eko Hot Blog reports that Former President United States (US) Donald Trump and other defendants in his civil fraud case have won an appeal to have their bond reduced.

A New York State Appeals Court on Monday required them now to put up $175 million within 10 days to pause enforcement of a $464 million judgment against them.

If Trump fails to post bond, it could leave some of his prized real estate and other assets vulnerable to seizure by the state.

The bond was lowered from $464 million on the day that a 30-day grace period for payment expired. New York Attorney General Letitia James had indicated her office would pursue Trump’s assets if he failed to post bond.

“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,” she said during a February interview with ABC News.

Attorneys for Trump wrote in a March 18 filing in the case that it was a “practical impossibility” for the defendants to secure such a large bond.

“Very few bonding companies will consider a bond of anything approaching that magnitude,” wrote the lawyers, Alina Habba, Clifford Robert, Christopher Kise and John Sauer. They noted that surety providers often require collateral up to 120% to guarantee the bond, driving the amount Trump might need over $500 million.

Trump claimed to have nearly $500 million in cash in a Truth Social post on March 22. In depositions and testimony in 2023, he claimed to have between $300 and $400 million.

JD Weisbrot, managing director of the surety operation at Risk Strategies, said Trump’s options for amassing the full $464 million were “frankly very limited.”

“The issue is that this type of bond is very hazardous in nature to a surety company. And why is that? It’s a demand instrument, the bond guarantees that in the event that the defendant loses the appeal, that the sum be immediately made available to the plaintiff,” Weisbrot said.

As a result, Weisbrot said surety companies want liquid assets as collateral, specifically cash or a letter of credit, and not hard assets like real estate.

The judgment stems from a civil case in which a judge, Justice Arthur Engoron, found Trump and others connected to his company liable for a decade-long scheme to use falsified real estate and net worth valuations to obtain favorable loan and insurance rates.

The judge concluded Trump and others gained more than $364 million through the scheme.