New York state Attorney General Letitia James is remaining resolute after the decision Monday by a state appeals court to lessen the amount that former President Donald Trump must produce via a bond to stave off collections — for now — amid a fraud case.
The underlying case, which James led to trial before state Judge Arthur Engoron, successfully alleged a years-long pattern of business fraud involving the misrepresentation of various assets’ value, and Trump was originally required to produce a bond covering the entirety of his subsequent penalties to keep James’ collections at bay while he pursues anticipated appeals. The appeals court made that amount $175 million instead, drawing accusations from some of applying a different set of legal standards to Trump. It mirrors reactions when Trump has made aggressive remarks amid his criminal cases but evaded the steepest consequences that other defendants might face.
“Donald Trump is still facing accountability for his staggering fraud,” said a prepared statement released on Monday by James’ team. “The court has already found that he engaged in years of fraud to falsely inflate his net worth and unjustly enrich himself, his family, and his organization. The $464 million judgment — plus interest — against Donald Trump and the other defendants still stands.”
Trump was complaining in the lead-up to the deadline this week for the originally required bond about demands for any bond at all, so from that angle, the $175 million required by the appeals court is still somewhat of a loss for the former president. And Trump used familiar refrains in his public targeting of the proceedings across that period, accusing James, for instance, of taking direction from the White House — a specific accusation for which it seems there’s just no evidence in the real world, though Trump uses a version of the claim with some regularity.
Trump lost elsewhere in court Monday, at least for now, with the judge in his local criminal case in New York putting the trial on track for a start in the middle of next month, rebuffing ideas of further delay.
