‘This is an outrage’: Donald Trump mired in financial nightmare as court deadline nears
Donald Trump has less than a week left before a nightmare scenario is triggered, placing his most beloved financial assets at risk.
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Former US president Donald Trump is facing a nightmare financial scenario, with the court-imposed deadline fast approaching for him to front up a massive bond, and his lawyers now insisting he cannot provide it.
Mr Trump is under court order to pay the $US454 million bond (about $700 million) after losing his civil fraud trial in New York. The state’s Supreme Court found he and his business, the Trump Organisation, had chronically misrepresented the value of their assets to fraudulently secure more favourable loans and interest rates.
“In order to borrow more and at lower rates, the defendants submitted blatantly false financial data to accountants, resulting in fraudulent financial statements,” Justice Arthur Engoron wrote in his judgment.
“Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological. They are accused only of inflating asset values to make more money. The documents prove this over and over again. This is a venial sin, not a mortal sin.
“Yet the defendants are incapable of admitting the error of their ways.”
Justice Engoron concluded that Mr Trump and his business were “likely to continue their fraudulent ways” unless the court imposed “significant injunctive relief”. Hence the whopping financial penalty.
If Mr Trump wishes to continue with an appeal against the judgment, he must either pay the full amount or secure a bond by Monday, March 25.
In that event, an insurance company would guarantee the amount owed under the judgment in return for a fee, and would then owe that amount to the court, should Mr Trump’s appeal fail.
Without a bond, New York’s Attorney-General Letitia James could begin to seize some of Mr Trump’s real estate assets.
In a court filing on Monday, the former president’s legal team said it had proven “practically impossible” to secure a bond of such an immense size, and claimed to have approached 30 insurance companies, without success, as part of its “diligent efforts”.
“The amount of the judgment, with interest, exceeds $US464 million, and very few bonding companies will consider a bond of anything approaching that magnitude,” his lawyers said.
They included supporting testimony from Gary Giuletti, an executive at the insurance firm Lockton Companies, who said Mr Trump’s efforts “included reaching out to virtually every major surety in the market and spending countless hours negotiating with one of the largest insurance companies in the world”.
“Despite scouring the market, we have been unsuccessful in our effort to obtain a bond for the judgment amount,” Mr Giuletti said.
“Obtaining an appeal bond for $US464 million is a practical impossibility under the circumstances presented.”
Mr Trump’s cause is not helped by the nature of the judgment against him. Securing a bond would require him to provide an insurance company with information about his finances – the very same sort of information he’s lied about in the past, according to the court ruling.
Ms James has indicated she’s more than willing to seize Mr Trump’s assets.
“We are prepared to make sure that the judgment is paid to New Yorkers,” she said.
Trump goes on angry posting spree
Mr Trump himself wrote about the case repeatedly on his social media platform, Truth Social, on Tuesday morning, publishing nine separate posts in the space of two hours.
“The only FRAUD in the Peekaboo James case, our failed and disgusting New York State Attorney-General, was her convincing ‘Judge’ Arthur Engoron to put a value on Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida, of just $18 million, when it is worth 50 to 100 times that amount,” Mr Trump said.
“This was fraudulently and illegally done, working closely together in a corrupt Communist system, to set their NARRATIVE after learning that their Values and Facts were completely wrong. Businesses will flee the state as Migrant Crime and Violence continues to flourish. I paid $300 million in Taxes, and this is what I get. WITCH HUNT!!!”
In his ruling, Justice Engoron noted that an independent assessor had appraised the market value of Mar-a-Lago at between $US18 million and $US27.6 million. Mr Trump, however, had claimed its value was somewhere between $US426.5 million and $US612 million - described by the judge as an overappraisal of “at least 2,300 per cent”.
Mr Trump’s current insistence that Mar-a-Lago is worth “up to 100 times” the $US18 million appraisal would put its value at $US1.8 billion.
“Any business thinking about moving into New York State is CRAZY!” Mr Trump continued.
In his subsequent posts, he described Justice Engoron as a “Crazed, Trump Hating, Rogue Judge”, insisted “I DID NOTHING WRONG!”, and claimed that being required to put up a bond before finishing his appeal was “a first”.
“I shouldn’t have to put up any money, being forced by the Corrupt Judge and AG, until the end of the appeal. That’s the way the system works!”
Appeal bonds are in fact common in US law, and are imposed to ensure the party appealing a court’s decision - in this case, Mr Trump - will pay the required amount if his appeal fails.
“The Corrupt Political Hacks in New York, Judge and AG, are asking me to put up massive amounts of money before I am allowed to appeal the ridiculous decision. Never done before,” Mr Trump claimed.
“No jury, no victim, full disclaimer clause, happy banks. ELECTION INTERFERENCE! WITCH HUNT!”
Mr Trump did not request a jury in his fraud trial. Justice Engoron said he would not have granted such a request anyway, as the state was seeking an equitable remedy - a clawback of ill-gotten financial gains - as opposed to damages, of the sort awarded to E. Jean Carroll in her defamation trial against the former president.
Many crimes do not involve specific “victims”. For example, you can be prosecuted for driving while drunk even if you get home safely, without harming anyone. Technically this is a victimless crime, yet you are still breaking the law.
Mr Trump was accused of inflating and deflating the value of his assets to gain an unfair competitive advantage, in the form of better loans or tax arrangements. Again, while there is no specific victim, this is illegal.
‘This is an outrage’
New York University law professor Ryan Goodman, appearing on CNN to discuss Mr Trump’s dilemma, was asked what would happen if Mr Trump failed to pay up.
“Then Letitia James seizes his property, puts liens on all of his assets and bank accounts,” Prof Goodman said.
“That is not restricted to New York. So (Ms James) probably, at this point, understands where he has different assets in Florida. Mar-a-Lago, and elsewhere.
“It would be fought out in some part of the courts. But for that period of time, (the asset) really becomes unusable. And how does he get any additional business going when these are under foreclosure, or are being seized by the courts?”
Meanwhile former Trump aide Stephanie Grisham, who served as one of his White House press secretaries, said the self-described billionaire’s struggle to front up the necessary money would be “very, very hard on his ego”.
She nominated 40 Wall Street, a property Mr Trump owns in New York, as the one he’d be most likely to sacrifice.
“I mean, he would hate it. But I think if (Ms James) tried to seize Mar-a-Lago or Bedminster or Trump Tower, even, I mean those are his babies,” said Ms Grisham.
“Any of the properties with golf courses, I think, would absolutely devastate him. It will be interesting to see what she goes for.”
There is building resentment at the situation from Mr Trump’s supporters, who feel the case against him was motivated by politics, and are now loudly wondering why his party’s biggest donors are not stepping forward to help.
“Why are there no Republican multibillionaires offering to lend President Trump the funds to file his appeal in the outrageous case?” said Mark Levin, a conservative broadcaster.
“Are none of them liquid enough to help, or join with others to help? This is an outrage.”
Originally published as ‘This is an outrage’: Donald Trump mired in financial nightmare as court deadline nears
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