Former President Donald Trump and co-defendants in his New York civil fraud case have released a $175 million bondaccording to a court filing Monday by an insurance company.
The release ends a six-week ordeal during which Trump worked to ward off possible seizure of property or assets resulting from a $464 million judgment by a judge who discovered that he had made hundreds of millions from a fraudulent scheme that has been going on for years targeting banks and insurers. Trump had to post bail to avoid enforcement of the judgment pending his appeal.
Alina Habba, Trump’s lawyer, said Trump’s payment was made “as promised.”
“He looks forward to asserting his rights on appeal and overturning this unjust verdict,” Habba said.
THE bail was reduced by an appeals court from $464 million to $175 million on March 25, hours after Trump failed to meet a grace period extended by New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office brought the case.
James had indicated that his office would pursue Trump’s assets if he did not post bail.
“If he does not have the funds to pay the judgment, then we will look for mechanisms to enforce the judgment in court and we will ask the judge to seize his assets,” she said during a interview with ABC News in February.
Trump’s lawyers wrote in a March 18 filing that it was a “practical impossibility” for the defendants to obtain the initial bail, of almost half a billion dollars. They said he was turned down by more than 30 bail bond companies.
“Very few bail bond companies would consider bail of this magnitude,” wrote attorneys Alina Habba, Clifford Robert, Christopher Kise and John Sauer. They noted that bail providers often require as much as 120% collateral to secure bail, making the amount Trump could need exceed $500 million.
That filing, made on March 18, listed more than 30 companies that the Trump Organization said it contacted for a larger bond, all of which declined. The one that ultimately posted the $175 million bond Monday, Knight Specialty Insurance Company, was not on that list.
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