Donald Trump's $454M Civil Fraud Appeal Bond Reduced to $175M Hours Before Deadline
March 25 2024, Published 1:04 p.m. ET
A state appeals court lowered Donald Trump’s $454 million civil fraud appeal bond down to only $175 million this week, RadarOnline.com can report. The court also gave the ex-president an additional ten days to post the nearly $200 million.
In a sudden and shocking development to come just hours before Trump’s deadline to post the initial $464 million civil fraud appellate bond, the court stated that Trump and his co-defendants now have ten days to post a $175 million bond – a nearly $300 million reduction from the original $464 million judgment that was initially due on Monday.
The appeal court’s ruling on Monday temporarily prevents New York Attorney General Letitia James from collecting the massive civil fraud judgment.
“I greatly respect the decision of the appellate division and I’ll post the $175 million in cash or bonds or security or whatever is necessary very quickly within the 10 days,” Trump said following Monday’s ruling, “and I thank the appellate division for acting quickly.”
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Trump was facing a liability of $454 million prior to Monday’s ruling – a sum that was increasing daily due to added interest.
Trump recently mentioned having cash reserves for his potential 2024 presidential campaign – despite not funding his previous campaigns personally since 2016 – in an attempt to address the financial challenge.
The embattled ex-president also recently hinted at the possibility of mortgaging or selling off his properties at discounted prices – referring to it as a “fire sale” – to cover the initial $464 million appellate bond.
“Nobody has ever heard of anything like this before,” Trump fumed on Truth Social last week. “I would be forced to mortgage or sell Great Assets, perhaps at Fire Sale prices, and if and when I win the Appeal, they would be gone. Does that make sense?”
“WITCH HUNT,” the ex-president added at the time. “ELECTION INTERFERENCE!”
Trump’s lawyer asked the appeals court to step in last Monday after admitting that it was “practically impossible” for Trump to secure a bond to cover the $454 million judgment appeal.
The 45th president’s lawyer claimed that over 30 lenders refused to loan Trump the money needed to post the initial appellate bond – a claim that Eric Trump later corroborated.
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“Defendants' ongoing diligent efforts have proven that a bond in the judgment's full amount is a practical impossibility,'' the Trump lawyer’s court filing read. “These diligent efforts have included approaching about 30 surety companies through 4 separate brokers.”
Trump now has until April 4 to post the $175 million civil fraud appellate bond before AG James is allowed to start seizing his assets.