Former President Trump won a surprise ruling Monday in the New York Court of Appeals that significantly lowers the bail he must pay while appealing a multimillion-dollar civil fraud judgment.
The decision is a decision that will relieve some of the financial pressure on the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, who will be required to file $464 million in damages if New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) faced the prospect of having his famous fortune and bank accounts pursued. A bond that earns interest and grows day by day.
A five-judge appeals panel on Monday suspended the sentence as long as Trump and his co-defendants post a fairly modest $175 million bail within 10 days.
Immediately after Monday's ruling, President Trump said he would “comply with the judgment” and pay $175 million in either “bonds, equivalent securities, or cash.”
This is the latest legal decision moving in the direction of President Trump launching a challenge against President Biden.
The former president has seen the schedule of numerous legal battles slip to the point where some cases against him may not be heard in court before Election Day.
At the same time, President Trump's ruling on Monday was divided, with another court ruling that charges against him in a hush money case will be heard starting April 15.
Still, the pivotal victory in the civil fraud case was huge for the former president. The judgment was won hours before the payments were due to expire, allowing James to begin seizing the former president's assets.
Judge Arthur Engoron ruled ahead of the Manhattan trial that Trump, the Trump Organization and executives, including his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, were liable for the fraud.
A two-month trial followed, during which approximately 40 witnesses involved in former President Trump's business activities were questioned under oath about whether the president had engaged in deceptive business practices for more than a decade. .
After the trial, Engoron found that Trump and his co-defendants conspired to alter Trump's net worth for tax and insurance benefits. In addition to the $464 million judgment (more than 95 percent of which is owed to Trump alone), the defendants were also barred from holding top executive positions at New York companies for several years.
Trump's lawyers last week admitted in court that despite their “intense efforts,” it would be “impossible” for the former president to secure the full appeal bond due to a lack of cash on hand. He asked for bail to be set at $1 million.
Allowing the ruling to take effect could have had devastating consequences for Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump alone owes the state $454 million, and each day he goes unpaid, an additional $112,000 in interest will be added to the hefty judgment. In the five weeks since Engoron was sentenced, Trump has already collected an additional $3.5 million in interest.
Without a court pause, James' office could begin seizing Trump's assets, plunging the former president into financial crisis and personal disgrace.
The attorney general could begin proceedings to drain the former president's bank accounts, garnish his wages and force him to hand over his personal property. She also could begin proceedings to seize assets of the Trump Organization.
Earlier this month, James' office filed a judgment in Westchester County, home to President Trump's golf resort and private estate known as Seven Springs, the first step toward taking it. The case is being tried and has already been decided in Manhattan, home to some of Mr. Trump's most famous properties, including Trump Tower and 40 Wall Street.
That thought alone put President Trump in a bad situation.
“Crooked Polus!!! FINE shouldn't exist. They did nothing wrong! Why would I “baby” when corrupt judges and judges in New York set up fake and ridiculous numbers? Do I have to sell?'' President Trump called the ruling “election interference'' in a post on Truth Social on Monday.
Such actions would undermine Mr. Trump's carefully managed reputation as a shrewd businessman with vast wealth, an image that helped propel him to the White House in 2016.
His sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, will also be forced to pay a portion of the judgment (just under $4.7 million each, plus interest) and will begin a two-year ban from New York's business community. . As a result of the ruling, both men will be removed from the management team of the Trump Organization, where they serve as executive officers, leaving leadership of the company in limbo.
Although the appeals court turned back the clock, Mr. James' office said Mr. Trump was still being held accountable for “astonishing misconduct.”
A spokesperson for the state attorney general's office said: “The court has previously found that he engaged in a long-standing fraud scheme designed to unfairly inflate his net worth and enrich himself, his family, and his organization.” said. “The $464 million judgment, plus interest, against Donald Trump and other defendants remains in effect.”
The decision to proceed with the hush money trial meant that the day was not a complete victory for President Trump.
The hush-money case involves payments that President Trump allegedly made through his former fixer Michael Cohen to porn actress Stormy Daniels, with whom the two allegedly had an affair.
The trial was originally scheduled to begin Monday in Manhattan, but President Trump said recent document leaks were grounds for abandoning the case, or at least sanctioning Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) to delay the trial. He said this was the basis for doing so.
At Monday's hearing, which Trump also attended, Judge Juan Machan denied all of those requests and fixed a new date.
This is Trump's first criminal trial, and also the first for a former U.S. president.
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