The former president was ordered to pay a staggering total of $454 million earlier this year in a verdict issued by Judge Arthur Engoron. He is seeking to appeal the judgement, but the total amount will continue to gain interest while that process plays out.
“The amount of the judgment, with interest, exceeds $464 million, and very few bonding companies will consider a bond of anything approaching that magnitude,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in the filing.
“Defendants’ ongoing diligent efforts have proven that a bond in the judgment’s full amount is ‘a practical impossibility,’” the lawyers wrote, citing an affidavit signed by an insurance broker who testified for Trump during the trial last year.
Trump’s lawyers argued that there are only a handful of surety companies that are approved by the Treasury Department to underwrite a bond as high as this one, noting that many have internal policies that they will only issue a bond of up to $100 million.
His team argued that none of the sureties will accept hard assets, such as real estate, as collateral and will only accept cash or cash equivalents.
While the lawyers wrote that it’s their understanding that the Trump Organization “is in a strong liquidity position,” they also said it does not have $1 billion “in cash or cash equivalents.”
“As a result, for a company such as The Trump Organization, which has most of its assets invested in real estate, obtaining a bond for $464 million is a practical impossibility,” they added.
The Hill’s Lauren Sforza has more here.
