Trump's Fraud Case Keeps Getting Worse After Lawyers Admit He Can't Pay $454 Million Fine
Nearly half a year after Donald Trump and his sons embarked on their civil trial for fraud, which included testimony from Ivanka Trump, the former president learned that he was on the hook for $454 million to the State of New York for, among other things, illegally falsifying his business-related financial records, according to CBS News. Judge Arthur Engoron handed down the mind-boggling judgment, which requires that Trump pay the sum in its entirety, or face a staggering $100,000 a day interest rate until the debt is cleared.
Taking to Truth Social on February 16, Trump unleashed his anger about Engoron and New York Attorney General, Letitia James. "A Crooked New York State Judge, working with a totally Corrupt Attorney General who ran on the basis of "I will get Trump," before knowing anything about me or my company, has just fined me $355 Million based on nothing other than having built a GREAT COMPANY," posted the 2024 presidential nominee. Trump's valuation of his judgment didn't include the additional $100 million in "pre-judgment interest" (via CBS News), tacked onto his final judgment amount.
On February 26, Trump officially appealed the judgment. "We trust that the Appellate Division will overturn this egregious fine and take the necessary steps to restore the public faith in New York's legal system," said Trump's lawyer, Alina Habba, per CBS News. Now, despite Trump being worth billions of dollars, his legal team has revealed that he's having trouble securing the funds to pay down the debt.
Donald Trump can't pay his legal judgment
Being on the hook for over $450 million is one thing, but being unable to pay it is far worse. Unfortunately for Trump, his legal team has revealed that the former president hasn't found any insurance companies to back a bond that would allow him to pay his judgment. "Defendants' ongoing diligent efforts have proven that a bond in the judgment's full amount is 'a practical impossibility," wrote Trump's legal squad (via The Hill). "The amount of the judgment, with interest, exceeds $464 million, and very few bonding companies will consider a bond of anything approaching that magnitude."
According to CNN, insurance broker Gary Giulietti testified on the stand, and expressed doubt that the politician could pay the judgment due to its enormous size. "Over the course of my career, during which I have been directly or indirectly involved in the issuance of thousands of bonds, I have never heard of nor seen an appeal bond of this size for a private company or individual," said Giulietti. "After substantial good-faith effort over the last several weeks, obtaining an appeal bond for the Judgment Amount of over $464 million is just not possible under these circumstances."
Trump has also petitioned to have his judgment postponed until he finishes the appeals process. However, the odds of that happening seem slim in the interim.