A New York appeals court on Monday, March 25, agreed to hold off collection of former President Donald Trump's $454 million civil fraud judgment – if he puts up $175 million within 10 days. If he does, it will stop the clock on collection and prevent the state from seizing his assets while he appeals.
The development came just before New York Attorney General Letitia James was expected to initiate efforts to collect the judgment. Trump's lawyers had pleaded for a state appeals court to halt collection, claiming it was "a practical impossibility" to get an underwriter to sign off on a bond for such a large sum.
The ruling was issued by the state's intermediate appeals court, the Appellate Division of the state's trial court, where Trump is fighting to overturn a judge's Feburary 16 finding that he lied about his wealth as he grew the real estate empire that launched him to stardom and the presidency. Trump attorneys Alina Habba and Christopher Kise characterized Monday’s ruling as a key first step.
The appeals court also halted other aspects of a trial judge's ruling that had barred Trump and his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., the family company's executive vice presidents, from serving in corporate leadership for several years. The judge had ordered Trump to pay $355 million, plus interest. Some co-defendants, including Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, were ordered to pay far smaller amounts. Monday’s ruling also puts those on hold if the $175 million bond is posted.
After James won the judgment, she didn't seek to enforce it during a legal time-out for Trump to ask the appeals court for a reprieve from paying up. That period ended Monday, though James could have decided to allow Trump more time. James, a Democrat, told ABC News last month that if Trump doesn't have the money to pay, she would seek to seize his assets and was "prepared to make sure that the judgment is paid."
As Trump arrived Monday at a different New York court for a separate hearing in his criminal hush money case, he didn't respond to a journalist's question about whether he'd obtained a bond. Speaking in a courthouse hallway, Trump later revisited his oft-stated complaints about the civil trial judge and the penalty he imposed. "What he’s done is such a disservice and should never be allowed to happen again," said Trump, who argues that the fraud case is discouraging business in New York.
Earlier Monday, he railed in social media posts against the civil judgment and the possibility that James would seek to enforce it. Casting the case as a plot by Democrats, the ex-president asserted that they were trying to take his cash to starve his 2024 campaign. "I had intended to use much of that hard earned money on running for President. They don't want me to do that — ELECTION INTERFERENCE!" he wrote on his Truth Social platform. Referring to his properties as "my 'babies,'" he bristled at the idea of being forced to sell them or seeing them seized.
Puffed up wealth
Seizing assets is a common legal option when someone doesn't have the cash to pay a civil court penalty. In Trump's case, potential targets could include such properties as his Trump Tower penthouse, aircraft, Wall Street office building or golf courses. The attorney general also could go after his bank and investment accounts.
Trump maintained on social media on Friday that he has almost $500 million in cash but intends to use much of it on his presidential run. He has accused James and New York state Judge Arthur Engoron, who's also a Democrat, of seeking "to take the cash away so I can't use it on the campaign."
Trump's debt stems from a months-long civil trial last fall over the state's allegations that he, his company and top executives vastly puffed up his wealth on financial statements, conning bankers and insurers who did business with him. The statements valued his penthouse for years as though it were nearly three times its actual size, for example.
Trump and his co-defendants denied 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 penthouse discrepancy, he said, was simply a mistake made by subordinates.
Engoron sided with the attorney general and ordered Trump to pay $355 million, plus interest that grows daily. Some co-defendants, including his sons and company executive vice presidents, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, were ordered to pay far smaller amounts.
Under New York law, filing an appeal generally doesn't hold off enforcement of a judgment. But there's an automatic pause if the person or entity posts a bond that covers what's owed. The ex-president's lawyers have said it's impossible for him to do that.