Donald Trump Admits He Can't Get $464M Bond: 'Practical Impossibility'

In court documents released on Monday, Donald Trump's legal team said paying his $400 million New York civil fraud penalty would be "a practical impossibility" for the former president.

Context

New York Attorney General Letitia James brought a civil fraud lawsuit against Trump in 2022, accusing him—as well as his adult sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, and other officials with the Trump Organization—of a years-long scheme in which he inflated his net worth and the value of his assets in order to obtain more favorable business loans.

Despite Trump's claims of innocence, Judge Arthur Engoron found him liable for fraud last fall. Trump was ordered to pay a penalty of $355 million, which, with interest, came to a total of over $454 million.

The former president is seeking a bond of $464 million to cover his fines and the disgorgement for his sons in order to pursue an appeal. Disgorgement requires a party who profits from illegal or wrongful acts to give up any profits they made as a result of that conduct.

Since the penalty was issued, observers have speculated that Trump might not be able to pay this amount, given his other mounting legal costs and financial headaches. Lending credence to this theory, his legal team previously asked if the former president could pay a portion of the amount, $100 million, to launch an appeal of the ruling.

What We Know

On Monday, a new court filing emerged in which Trump's legal team admitted that it is a "practical impossibility" for him to make the $464 million payment and requested a stay in the execution of the monetary portion of the civil fraud ruling, pending the outcome of an appeal process. Defendants are typically required to post a bond payment in excess of the penalty against them in order to file for an appeal.

"Despite scouring the market," the filing read, "we have been unsuccessful in our effort to obtain a bond for the Judgment Amount for Defendants for the simple reason that obtaining an appeal bond for $464 million is a practical impossibility under the circumstances presented."

The filing included a statement attesting to this argument from Gary Giulietti, an executive with the insurance outfit Lockton Companies, which Trump has retained to help obtain a bond.

Newsweek reached out to Trump's office via email for comment on Monday.

The filing was submitted to a mid-level New York state appeals court and argued that the appeal bond requirement for such a massive ruling was excessive and that "enforcing an impossible bond requirement as a condition of appeal would inflict manifest irreparable injury on Defendants." Trump's lawyers are instead asking the court to allow Trump to pay the $100 million previously offered in order to pursue an appeal.

Views

In a post to X about the filing, Adam Klasfeld, a fellow for Just Security at the Reiss Center on Law and Security at New York University School of Law, highlighted past reports claiming that Trump's current financial liquidity was below the civil judgments against him, putting him in a tight bind. He is also purportedly limited in terms of the kind of assets that he could offer as collateral against the bond.

"As we reported earlier, Trump's estimated liquidity was widely believed to be less than his civil judgments," Klasfeld wrote. "The sureties willing to consider a bond of this magnitude 'will not 'accept hard assets such as real estate as collateral,'' his lawyers say."

What Comes Next

Trump's legal team has requested oral arguments be allowed for their request. If the request is denied by the appeals court, the filing also requests permission to bring the matter to the highest appeals court in New York State.

Update 03/18/24, 11:21 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.

Update 03/18/24, 11:31 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.

Update 03/18/24, 2:18 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.