Well, that can’t be good.
Lawyers for former President Donald Trump have told the courts they’re having trouble finding the money to underwrite his bond in the $454 million civil fraud case against him.
“Trump has been unable to find an insurance company to underwrite his bond to cover the $454 million judgment in the New York attorney general’s civil fraud case, his lawyers said today. ‘The amount of the judgment, with interest, exceeds $464 million, and very few bonding companies will consider a bond of anything approaching that magnitude,’ Trump’s lawyers wrote,” CNN’s Kaitlin Collins pointed out Monday.
In his Feb. 16 ruling, Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that Trump lied for years about his wealth in order to secure favorable loans and make deals that helped prop up his real estate empire. He was ordered to pay $354.9 million in penalties plus nearly $100 million in interest.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the case, has said she would seek to seize some of the former president’s assets if he’s unable to cover the bill, though the appeal is likely to halt collection of his penalty while the process plays out.
Trump has denied wrongdoing. His lawyers had been seeking to delay the filing after wrangling with state lawyers and the judge over what that paperwork should say.
Making matters worse, beginning last month the interest on Trump’s penalty will increase to $111,984 per day, rather than the $87,502 per day he had owed before the verdict was made official. That’s because post-judgment interest is calculated on the total judgment — the underlying $355 million penalty, plus the nearly $100 million he racked up in pre-judgment interest.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @MatthewArco.
