Former President Donald Trump says the massive $464 million bond that New York is requiring of him to appeal an adverse ruling is “practically impossible” for any company to meet. In fact, he says the money should be required only after the appeal is finished.
“I shouldn’t have to put up any money, being forced by the Corrupt Judge and AG, until the end of the appeal. That’s the way system works!” he wrote in a post on Truth Social on March 19.
He also says the case is creating a hostile business climate that makes it “crazy” for any company to relocate there.
“I built a Magnificent Business, which helped rebuild New York City and State, with Amazing, Unparalleled, Historic Properties and tons of CASH, which Crooked Joe Biden and his Maniac Persecutors are trying to wrongfully and illegally take from me,” the ex-president said in another post on Truth Social on Monday evening.
He fired off a series of posts on Monday and Tuesday, railing against the alleged unfairness of the bond situation he faces in the wake of Judge Arthur Engoron’s decision to fine him $355 million, plus additional millions against his sons and The Trump Organization.
The judge issued those fines in a civil fraud case last month, finding that the defendants inflated the value of assets to gain more favorable interest rates from banks and insurers. The ex-president has denied overvaluations and also points out that the loans were repaid on time and that no one was harmed by the alleged overinflation.
Trump attorneys had offered to post a $100 million bond. An appeals court has yet to rule on whether that amount would will be enough to put Mr. Engoron’s judgment on hold pending appeal.
President Trump, in his post, called the bond amount “unConstitutional, un-American, unprecedented, and practically impossible for ANY Company, including one as successful as mine.”
“The Bonding Companies have never heard of such a bond, of this size, before, nor do they have the ability to post such a bond, even if they wanted to,” the former president wrote.
Indeed, an executive with the world’s largest privately held insurance brokerage firm, Gary Giuletti, said many bonding companies must adhere to policy limits of $100 million.
Mr. Giulietti, who works on behalf of one of four insurance brokers that Trump attorneys hired to seek the $464 million bond, wrote an affidavit that the brokers spent “countless hours negotiating with the largest insurance companies in the world,” but failed.
He called that bond amount “commercially unattainable for a privately owned company,” even if the company had “billions of dollars in real estate.” Mr. Giulietti, who has 50 years of experience, said surety companies that are big enough to write a $464 million bond will not accept real-estate as collateral. Therefore, attaining the bond would require assets to be sold. Mr. Giulietti called that situation “both crippling and punitive.”
Mr. Giulietti stated that the Trump Organization “is in a strong liquidity position,” but it doesn’t have $1 billion in cash.
President Trump questioned the fairness of being required to post such a huge amount to secure the right to appeal. Then, after mortgaging or selling off his assets, “perhaps at fire sale prices,” the company would be permanently damaged because “if and when I win the Appeal, they would be gone.”
Legal scholar Jonathan Turley says President Trump appears to have made some valid points about the constitutionality and fairness of the bond amount—and, because of that, the case could make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The circumstances leave the former president with “no good options,” Mr. Turley told Fox News in a March 19 interview that President Trump shared on Truth Social, adding, “Remember: If you get the bond, you still lose a considerable amount of money on the cost of the bond.”
In essence, Mr. Engoron is saying, “In order to get any other judge to look at what I’ve done to you, you’ve got to come up with basically a half a billion dollars just to appeal,” Mr. Turley said, calling that situation a “perverse incentive” for the judge.
“At some point, the courts have got to step in and say, ‘Look, this is just simply enough,’” Mr. Turley said.
He said that, in the past, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear some state cases where due-process rights are at issue, and the right to appeal is one of those rights which appears to be infringed upon in the Trump case.
Mr. Turley declared: “You don’t have to like Donald Trump to be appalled at what we’re seeing.”
President Trump repeatedly wrote in his posts that the case represents “election interference” and a “witch hunt,” terms he typed in all capital letters for emphasis.
In a related post, the ex-president wrote: “The statute used to attack me has never been used for such a purpose before—No Jury allowed, ridiculous $18 Million Value for Mar-a-Lago, the Judge ignored the Statute of Limitations Decision by the Appellate Court, Ironclad Disclaimer Clauses, No Damages, No Victims—A Disgraceful ‘Case!’”
President Trump said the case is a “sham,” and it is “forcing companies and people to flee New York, and stopping companies from entering.”
“If they did, they would be crazy, because they don’t need the Communist China, or old Soviet Union, model of business to interfere with their Prosperity and Success,” he said.
Elena Cardone, the wife of one such businessman, Grant Cardone, started a GoFundMe account on behalf of President Trump to assist with payment of the fine–and to stand up for what is right.
“This is a call to all businesses owners and entrepreneurs to rally in defense of all businesses and for man who has never hesitated to stand in defense of us,” Ms. Cardone wrote on the GoFundMe webpage. “This fundraiser, therefore, is not merely about raising the ‘ruling’ amount. It’s about making a stand. It’s about showing that when one of us is targeted for championing the values that make America great, he does not stand alone.”
She said entrepreneurs need to “fight back against a system that threatens to undermine the very foundations of our republic.”
Ms. Cardone wrote that every business owner should be terrified to know that, in this case, “a business owner did a loan with a bank, never defaulted, nor missed a payment, pays back the loan with interest and caused no financial damage to anyone, yet, the government overreaches and slaps a business owner with a $355M ruling.”
President Trump said the business climate in New York, where he lived for many years as he built his business empire, is downright inhospitable.
“The level of anger and hostility toward businesses and business people is incredible,” he wrote in a post on March 19. “Numerous people have spoken to me about this” in the wake of Judge Engoron’s ruling.
“Engoron laughed with disdain at the Appellate Division, his superior court, when they handed down a decision which essentially ended most of the case, and he REFUSED TO ABIDE BY IT,” the ex-president complained. “This is the first time something like that has ever happened in New York State.”
President Trump denounced Mr. Engoron as “a Crazed, Trump Hating, Rogue Judge.” He alleged that the judge has “ZERO respect for the Appellate Judges, and has torn apart the Legal System in New York State, making it impossible for outside businesses to want to come there. Existing businesses will flee!!!”
Nevertheless, President Trump said he remains determined to battle against the decision.
