Trump Given 10-Day Deadline to Pay $175 Million; Exclaims ‘I Have Plenty of Funds’
Former President Donald Trump has been given 10 days to produce $175 million after a New York appeals court decision reduced the bond payment he owes while appealing a $464.5 million judgment in a civil fraud case.
The ruling by the five-judge panel, all appointed by Democrat governors, of the Supreme Court of the state of New York Appellate Division, means Democrat New York Attorney General Letitia James cannot collect the judgment delivered by Judge Arthur Engoron while Trump appeals, provided Trump pays the $175 million within 10 days.
Engoron, an elected far-left Democrat, awarded the multimillion-dollar judgment last month after determining that Trump overstated his assets to gain favorable loans. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.
“Greatly respect the decision of the appellate division,” Trump said in a news conference in New York. “We will abide by that. We’ll put up the cash or bond very quickly; securities, cash, or bond, whatever it is, we’ll put it up very quickly. And we’ll win the case.”
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for November’s election, said he has enough money to pay the bond to allow his appeal to go forward.
“I have a lot of cash,” Trump said. “You know I do because you’ve looked at my [bank] statements. You’ve been examining my statements for a long time. I have much more than that in cash. I would also like to use some of my cash to get elected.
“They don’t want me to use my cash to get elected. They don’t want me taking cash out to use for the campaign.”
To obtain the bond — a promise from an outside company to cover his judgment if he loses the appeal and cannot pay — Trump will have to pay the company a fee and pledge about $200 million in cash and other investments as collateral, The New York Times reported.
Had the bond not been reduced, Trump would have been required to post 120% of what he owes with collateral — amounting to a reported $557.5 million. His legal team asked the appellate division to lower the bond amount or waive it completely.
Once Trump’s legal team officially files a motion to appeal with the state appellate division, the case won’t be heard until the September term of oral arguments, according to the New York Post. That means should he lose the appeal, a trial likely wouldn’t begin until after the November election.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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