In the battle of “Deadline Don” vs. the doomsayers, former President Donald Trump came out on top Monday.
Hours before his $454 million bond was due, an appeals court staved off a doomsday deadline imposed by New York State Attorney General Letitia James.
In February, James won a civil fraud judgment against the former president after arguing he overvalued his businesses and properties. As punishment, Trump was fined, with the rules requiring him to post a bond to show he could pay the fine before he could appeal the verdict.
James set Monday as Trump’s deadline to pay $454 million. If he failed to pay, James could have flexed her power to seize and sell off Trump’s properties.
But the clock stopped on any effort to grab his properties after a state appeals court said the former president has to raise only $175 million, according to Bloomberg.
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The court gave him 10 days to post the new bond.
After the ruling, Trump called Judge Arthur Engoron, who presided over his trial, a “disgrace” who had “done a terrible disservice” to New York state, Mediaite reported.
His lawyers sought a $100 million bond, arguing that trying to get the initial amount James demanded was not possible after more than 30 surety companies would not help the former president, according to CNBC.
The companies insisted that Trump, whose wealth is mostly in real estate, show “cash reserves approaching $1 billion,” his lawyers wrote.
Was the original bond amount fair to Trump?
Neither Trump nor the Trump Organization had that on hand, the attorneys said.
The ruling said his $175 million bond will remain in effect through at least September, according to CNN.
The appellate court on Monday put a stay on Engoron’s order barring Trump from serving as an officer or director of a New York company for three years, according to CNBC.
News:
A New York appellate court partially GRANTS a stay of Trump’s civil fraud judgment, if the former president posts $175 million.
Doc https://t.co/Brm79v1Dn6 pic.twitter.com/QUU8DmRXaX
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) March 25, 2024
An order that barred Trump and the case’s corporate defendants from seeking loans in New York for the next three years was also stayed.
A two-year ban Engeron imposed on the former president’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, from being officers and directors of companies in New York was also put on hold.
The appeals court rejected arguments from Trump to stop the expansion Engeron ordered of a financial watchdog installed to see what was taking place financially in the Trump Organization.
Earlier Monday, the GOP presidential candidate had focused on the verdict against him as an example of the courts being made into a political weapon.
“People must continue to speak of, and remember, that the Engoron number of $450,000,000 for doing absolutely NOTHING WRONG is a big part of the crime being perpetrated against me by Crooked Joe Biden and his political Hacks and Thugs,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
“Engoron’s fraudulent valuation of Mar-a-Lago for $18,000,000, when it is worth 50 to 100 times that amount, is another piece of the Election Interference HOAX,” he said. “It’s all a giant and totally illegal Witch Hunt against Biden’s Political Opponent!”
