New York Attorney General Letitia James is urging state Judge Arthur Engoron to reject the $175 million bond former President Donald Trump is posting in his civil fraud case.
According to MSNBC legal analyst Adam Klasfeld, James' filing says that Trump's bond fails to meet "requirements of trustworthiness and competence" and should therefore be held "without effect."
Trump was found liable for over $450 million in the case earlier this year, after James demonstrated the former president and his two adult sons systematically lied about the Trump Organization's property values, manipulating the worth and sometimes even square footage of Trump properties to reduce tax liabilities and loan interest obligations. In addition to the fine and interest back payments, Engoron placed temporary restrictions on Trump's ability to do business in the state
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An appeals court at the last minute reduced the value of the bond Trump must post to appeal the ruling from the full amount of the judgment to $175 million as the former president said he struggled to find anyone willing to guarantee the money.
Ultimately, the former president, whose attorneys had made very clear to the courts that the full amount could not be posted without the Trump Organization being forced to sell off properties, managed to procure bond from Knight Specialty Insurance Company, a firm owned by billionaire auto-lending tycoon Don Hankey.
Ironically, Trump's own administration previously investigated Hankey's businesses for allegedly illegally repossessing cars from veterans.
But that is not the end of the story. Some experts have raised doubts about the circumstances under which this bond was posted. A few have questioned why Trump even needed to secure a bond in the first place, given that $175 million is theoretically less than the amount of liquidity he has already claimed he has, so some have said that he should be able to put up the cash himself.