D-Day for Donald: Trump faces deadline today to pay $464m fraud bond. Here’s what you need to know
Donald Trump is facing a potentially huge day of legal drama today as the deadline to post bond for his $464m fraud judgement looms and an important hearing is held regarding his imminent hush money trial.
Judge Arthur Engoron ruled last month that the Republican presidential candidate must pay $354m in fines and a further $110m plus in interest ($464m, all in) over a decade-long scheme where he inflated the value of Trump Organization assets in order to obtain favourable loans from banks and insurers.
With interest ticking ever-upwards at 9 per cent or $120,000 a day, the exact total he owes as of deadline day is now closer to $468.1m – but his lawyers have argued that he has been unable to find a bond company willing to stump up the cash.
Fail to make the bond today and New York Attorney General Letitia James could begin seizing the former president’s assets, including some of his prized property empire.
Here’s what could happen today:
Mr Trump – who is battling four criminal cases in Washington DC, New York, Georgia and Florida while simultaneously campaigning for the presidency, chewing up an estimated $230,000 per day in legal expenses – has a deadline of today to post bond in the case.
One option would be that he finds a surety company willing to post almost half a billion dollars on his behalf, for a fee, in order to cover the judgement in the event that he should he fail to win his pending appeal. But his attorneys have already revealed that they approached more than 30 companies – and have been turned down.
The presidential candidate was able to secure a $91.6m bond earlier this month to appeal the defamation verdict against him in the unrelated E Jean Carroll case through the Federal Insurance Company, a subsidiary of the Chubb Corporation, whose CEO was appointed to a trade advisory committee during the Trump administration. Support from another wealthy ally or group of allies would come in very handy indeed right about now.
Alternatively, Mr Trump could stump up the cash himself and pay the judgement. He claimed on Truth Social on Sunday night that he does have the cash in his account – but that he is planning to use it for his presidential campaign.
The amount of his available cash on hand remains up for debate. He is likely to receive a $3bn windfall soon as his Truth Social platform hits Wall Street as soon as Monday, although he is prohibited from selling his interest in the venture for six months from it going public.
Another option would be that he simply does nothing, but that an appeals court agrees to pause the judgement while his appeal plays out or accept a smaller amount (his first offer of $100m has already been rejected). That court is not expected to rule today but could do so later this week.
Mr Trump’s other options include filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, although that step would not rid him of debts accrued through fraud and definitively undermine his claims to be a billionaire businessman and therefore, potentially, his electoral appeal.
Should Mr Trump come up short today, Ms James has the authority to begin seizing his assets, including some of his properties, with a view to selling them on to make up the total owed.
The state attorney general had the power under New York to enforce the judgement as soon as it was issued in February but Mr Trump was granted a 30-day grace period, which is now about to expire.
