A New York appellate court denied Donald Trump’s plea on Wednesday. The former president filed to freeze the judgment in his civil fraud case, which means he has to post a bond for millions of dollars soon. Judge Anil Singh denied his request to pay just $100 million from the original judgment for Donald Trump’s fraud trial. He did not even address the amount requested for the bond, effectively requiring Trump to submit a bond for the full $454 judgment.
Defense attorneys cited that Trump was prepared to post only a $100 million bond and not any higher. They said he couldn’t cover such a huge amount without selling off his properties. Moreover, a bond would cost around 12% more than the original judgment, roughly $550 million. Responding to that, the New York attorney general’s office urged the judge to deny his request as Trump has assets to cover the $454 million amount.
Apart from the request to put a pause on the collection of the rest of the amount in Donald Trump’s fraud case, his attorneys also requested to remove the ban imposed on him from taking new loans from the banks of New York.
The Guardian reported that Trump’s lawyers wrote,
The exorbitant and punitive amount of the judgment, coupled with an unlawful and unconstitutional blanket prohibition on lending transactions, would make it impossible to secure and post a complete bond.
In response to that, the prosecutors told the court,
A prevailing plaintiff is entitled to have her award secured, and defendants have never demonstrated that Mr Trump’s liquid assets could satisfy the full amount of the judgment.
Initially, Judge Arthur Engoron ordered a judgment of $355 million plus interest to be paid by Donald Trump on the fraud case. Since then, the amount has increased to more than $450 million because of the additional $112,000 in daily interest imposed on it.
