Former President Donald Trump is in “panic mode” as the deadline approaches to post his half-billion-dollar bail to appeal his civil fraud case in New York, multiple sources say. told CNN.
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Trump’s lawyers acknowledged Monday that he was having trouble finding an insurance company willing to guarantee his $454 million bail.
Trump was counting on Chubb, who posted his $91.6 million bond to cover the E. Jean Carroll judgment, but the insurance giant informed his lawyers in recent days that that option was not an option. .
Trump’s team sought out wealthy supporters and assessed which assets could be sold — and quickly.
AFP
The Republican presidential candidate himself is increasingly concerned about what the March 25 deadline might look like — particularly the prospect that someone whose identity has long been tied to his wealth would face to a financial crisis.
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Trump continued to privately attack New York Attorney General Letitia James and Judge Arthur Engoron over the issue, the sources told CNN.
On Tuesday morning shortly before 6:30 a.m., Trump made these grievances public by posting them eight times on his social media platform within two hours of the deadline, arguing that he should not have to provide money and fearing that he “need to mortgage or sell large assets, perhaps at fire sale prices, and if and when I win the appeal, they will disappear.”
“Does this make sense? WITCH HUNT. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!”, wrote the former president.
AFP
“These baseless insinuations are complete bullshit,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement Tuesday.
“President Trump has filed a motion to stay New York Judge Arthur Engoron’s unjust, unconstitutional and un-American ruling as part of a political witch hunt by a corrupt attorney general. A requirement of this size would constitute an abuse of the law, contradict the fundamental principles of our Republic, and fundamentally undermine the rule of law in New York.”
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As Trump and his legal team wait to see whether an appeals court will stay the ruling while he appeals, or allow him to post a smaller $100 million bond, he has privately expressed opposition to any path regarding filing for bankruptcy, and that remains the least likely for now, a person familiar with the talks told CNN.
But his lawyers told the New York Court of Appeals on Monday that he had contacted 30 underwriters to guarantee the bond, and the former president himself told Truth Social that he believed it was “virtually impossible” to pay the amount.
Potential underwriters are looking for cash to secure the bond, not property, according to Trump’s lawyers.
AFP
The bond stems from Engoron’s ruling last month, which ordered Trump to pay $355 million in restitution or “ill-gotten gains” in the case brought by James.
The judge wrote in his opinion that Trump and his co-defendants – including his adult sons – were guilty of fraud, conspiracy and publishing false financial statements and business records, finding that the defendants fraudulently inflated the value of assets of Trump to obtain more favorable results.
The amount owed by Trump exceeds $450 million, including interest.
MEGA/WENN
To prevent the state from enforcing the judgment, the Republican must post a bond that will be held in an account pending the appeal process, which could take years to process.
Although Trump posted a $91.6 million bond earlier this month as part of his appeal in Carroll’s defamation case, Gary Giulietti — an insurance broker who testified for Trump during the civil fraud lawsuit — said some of the largest underwriters had internal policies that limited them from securing bail of more than $100 million.
