Donald Trump’s bond reduced to $175mn in civil fraud case
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A New York appeals court has allowed Donald Trump to post just $175mn to delay enforcement of a $464mn fraud judgment, in a victory for the former US president who had claimed it would be “impossible” to obtain a bond for the full amount.
The ruling came as a 30-day grace period granted to Trump by Letitia James, the New York attorney-general, who brought the fraud case, was set to expire, paving the way for her office to seize Trump’s cash and properties across the US.
In an order on Monday morning, a panel of five justices at the appeals court gave Trump 10 days to find the new sum. They also agreed to delay the enforcement of non-monetary penalties imposed as part of the judgment, such as the barring of Trump and his elder sons from running a business in New York and applying for loans in the state.
But they ruled that a monitor would remain in place at the Trump Organization in the interim, as would an “independent director of compliance”.
Trump was at a separate court across the road when the order was published, attending a hearing over whether to further delay his criminal trial over the alleged cover-up of “hush money” payments to an adult film star. The judge declined to do so, setting jury selection to begin on April 15 in what will be the first criminal trial against a former US president.
In a statement on social media soon after the appeals court’s decision, Trump said he would “post either a bond, equivalent securities, or cash”.
Later, he railed against President Joe Biden and James in a speech at 40 Wall Street, a property the attorney-general had indicated could be seized if he could not secure a bond.
Trump, who is the presumptive Republican nominee for president in the 2024 race, reiterated his claims that the legal cases against him amounted to “election interference”, and claimed James was “the puppet master of the judge” who oversaw the fraud case.
