A bond company owner in New York consulted as an informed source for CNBC suggested to the news outlet that Donald Trump could need to sell off assets just to get through the appeals process in a fraud case from state Attorney General Letitia James.
The state team alleged a years-long pattern of Trump and figures close to him financially benefiting from the misrepresentation of various assets’ value, and trial Judge Arthur Engoron imposed hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties on the former president. For the appeals process, reports indicate that Trump will need to produce a bond — or secure a judge’s agreement for alterations to the requirements — in order to halt enforcement of the judgment, a process that could culminate with James herself seeking a seizure of Trump’s assets. The amounts are huge.
“Trump could have to liquidate some assets to secure a bond, said Pedersen,” CNBC recapped, referring to Neil Pedersen of New York’s Pederson & Sons. The same figure noted that holding a figure who could become the next president to terms associated with a bond agreement is rather uncharted territory. “No one’s ever had to enforce an indemnity agreement against what could very well be the next U.S. president,” Pedersen remarked.
Alina Habba, a lawyer on Trump’s team throughout the case from James, recently indicated intentions to produce a bond, though the details of that prospective arrangement have yet to materialize. The Trump team already filed notice with the court of intentions to appeal, but that wasn’t enough to put a halt on Engoron’s ruling, which also includes years-long restrictions on Trump and his two adult sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump serving in leadership roles in New York businesses.
And the younger Trumps face millions of dollars each in their own penalties, reports explain. The Trump team sought from Engoron an outright hold on the judgment, a prospect he rejected. “You have failed to explain, much less justify, any basis for a stay,” Engoron wrote to the Trumps’ corner.
