Donald Trump says he may have to sell properties to pay $738 million penalty

Former president Donald Trump exits the courtroom during a break in his civil fraud trial at the State Supreme Court building in Manhattan, October 18, 2023. Photo / Doug Mills, The New York Times

Donald Trump has offered a New York appeals court a bond of only US$100 million (NZ$164m) to pause the more than US$450m (NZ$738m) judgment he faces in his civil fraud case, saying that he might need to sell some of his properties unless he gets relief.

It was a stunning acknowledgment that Trump, who is racing the clock to either secure a bond from a company or produce the full amount himself, lacks the resources to do so. Without a bond, the New York attorney general’s office, which brought the fraud case, could seek to collect from Trump at any moment.

Trump’s lawyers on Wednesday (Thursday NZT) also asked the court to delay a wide range of other punishments the judge in the fraud case levied in his decision earlier this month. They include a prohibition on obtaining a loan from a New York bank for three years and a ban on running a company in the state during that same period.

One appellate court judge was hearing the request from Trump on Wednesday afternoon and was expected to issue a decision shortly after. If the judge were to grant the pause, it would be only temporary; Trump would still have to persuade a larger panel of appellate judges to keep the judgment on hold.

New York attorney general Letitia James' office asked the appeals court to deny Trump’s request. Photo / Todd Heisler, The New York Times

In seeking relief, Trump’s lawyers disclosed that they would be unable to secure a bond for the full amount, raising the prospect that he might soon default on the judgment if the appeals court denies his request. Without a stay, Trump’s lawyers warned, he likely would have to sell some of his New York properties “under exigent circumstances”, in what would be a punishing blow to the former president.

“The exorbitant and punitive amount of the judgment coupled with an unlawful and unconstitutional blanket prohibition on lending transactions would make it impossible to secure and post a complete bond,” the lawyers wrote.

Posting bond for the full amount would prevent the attorney general, Letitia James, from collecting the judgment until Trump’s appeal is resolved. Under New York law, James can seize Trump’s bank accounts and potentially take control of his New York properties.

James built her case on the accusation that Trump had fraudulently inflated his net worth by as much as US$2 billion.

Trump’s net worth is largely derived from real estate, not cash. As of last year, he was sitting on more than US$350m in cash, as well as stocks and bonds he could sell in a hurry, according to a recent New York Times review of his financial records.

But the sum of the judgment in the civil fraud case and the US$83.3m judgment that Trump faces from a defamation trial involving writer E. Jean Carroll far eclipses his stockpile of cash.

In its own filing, James’ office asked the appeals court to deny Trump’s request.

“There is no merit to defendants’ contention that a full bond or deposit is unnecessary because they are willing to post a partial undertaking of less than a quarter of the judgment amount,” the attorney general’s office wrote. “Defendants all but concede that Mr Trump has insufficient liquid assets to satisfy the judgment.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Written by: Ben Protess and Kate Christobek

Photographs by: Doug Mills and Todd Heisler

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