‘False Premise’: New York Attorney General Disputes Trump’s Inability To Cover $464 Million Bond
Jason Cohen on March 20, 2024
New York Attorney General Letitia James on Wednesday challenged former President Donald Trump’s claim he cannot post the $464 million bond a judge has ordered him to pay.
Trump’s attorneys on Monday asserted the former president is unable to post the bond in his appeal of the New York civil fraud judgment against him. James suggested in a court filing that Trump should try to get bonds from multiple entities and that the former president did not prove his inability to cover it.
“Defendants’ argument that obtaining a full bond is purportedly impossible is based on the false premise that they must obtain a single bond from a single surety for the entire judgment amount of $464 million,” James’ filing states.
James sued Trump for allegedly falsifying his company’s assets to get loans for business ventures, with the New York Supreme Court’s Trial Division issuing the judgment on Feb. 23.
“Defendants supply no documentary evidence that demonstrates precisely what real property they offered to sureties, on what terms that property was offered, or precisely why the sureties were unwilling to accept the assets,” the filing adds. “As far as the Court can infer, sureties may have refused to accept defendants’ specific holdings as collateral because using Mr. Trump’s real estate will generally need ‘a property appraisal’ … and his holdings are not nearly as valuable as defendants claim.”
Trump’s attorneys asserted in the Monday filing that bond insurance companies “will not ‘accept hard assets such as real estate as collateral,’ but ‘will only accept cash or cash equivalents (such as marketable securities).’” It also included affidavits from insurance professionals and attorneys backing Trump’s claim that posting such a bond was impossible.
James’ press office and Trump’s attorneys did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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