Trump cannot find anyone to secure bond for $454M civil fraud ruling, attorneys say

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Ex-US President Donald Trump has approached 30 insurance companies via four brokers to underwrite his nearly half-billion dollar bond in a state civil fraud case, but has been rejected at each turn, his attorneys said in a court filing Monday.

Trump must pay $454 million in fines and interest following a judgement from Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron in February. If Trump cannot secure the bond he will have to pay in cash from his coffers, or risk his properties being seized and sold by state authorities.

"A bond requirement of this enormous magnitude—effectively requiring cash reserves approaching $1 billion," attorneys wrote in the sprawling filling, "is unprecedented for a private company."

"Even when it comes to publicly traded companies, courts routinely waive or reduce the bond amount. Enforcing an impossible bond requirement as a condition of appeal would inflict manifest irreparable injury on Defendants," they wrote.

Trump's legal team is asking the New York Supreme Court to intervene to prevent state Attorney General Letitia James from collecting the judgement as early as next week, saying that doing so would cause Trump and his business empire "irreparable injury."

"Obtaining such cash through a 'fire sale' of real estate holdings would inevitably result in massive, irrecoverable losses—textbook irreparable injury," they said.

Engoron issued his biting ruling following a monthslong civil fraud trial that sought to determine the damages that Trump was to pay after being found liable for misleading authorities and banks about the value of his real estate holdings. The trial was focused squarely on the extent of damages that Trump would be forced to pay.

Engoron previously sided with prosecutors in their contention that Trump engaged in a pattern of overvaluing his assets when reporting to banks to secure more favorable loan terms while skirting taxes by devaluing his properties in financial disclosures to state authorities.

During the two-and-a-half months of proceedings in which dozens of witnesses provided testimony, the ex-president repeatedly bemoaned what he said were "rigged" proceedings and "politically-motivated" charges.