Donald Trump on the campaign trail in 2024.Photo:Adam Glanzman/Bloomberg via Getty
Adam Glanzman/Bloomberg via Getty
On Monday, Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, confirmed that the former president, 77, posted the bond in the case in order to secure his assets from seizure while the case is under appeal. “He looks forward to vindicating his rights on appeal and overturning this unjust verdict,” Habba said in a statement, according toNBC News.
In a press release from 2022, when James filed the lawsuit, her office claimed that “from 2011-2021, Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization knowingly and intentionally created more than 200 false and misleading valuations of assets on his annual Statements of Financial Condition to defraud financial institutions.”
During a press conference at the time, James said she was seeking $250 million in fines from Trump and was planning to ban his family from operating any New York businesses in the future, and ban the former president and the Trump Organization from buying commercial real estate in New York for five years.
Donald Trump at a rally in 2023.Sean Rayford/Getty
Sean Rayford/Getty
At the end of February,the former president was ordered to pay $354.9 million, plus an estimated $100 million in pre-judgment interest, as a penalty for committing fraud in New York. The ruling also barred him from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporations or legal entities for three years, and restricted him and the Trump Organization from applying for loans from New York-chartered financial institutions during the same time frame.
In response, Trump’s attorneys filed for appeal in the case, seeking an investigation into whether Judge Arthur Engoron “committed errors of law and/or fact, and whether he abused his discretion and/or acted in excess of his jurisdiction” in the ruling, perNBC News.
According to theNew York Times, Trump’s $175 million was secured through Knight Specialty Insurance Company. “In providing the bond, which is a legal document, not an actual transfer of money, the firm essentially promised New York’s court system that it would cover a portion of the $454 million judgment against Mr. Trump if he loses his appeal and fails to pay,” the outlet reported.
Next week,the first of a series of cases involving the former president is set to go to trial, with jury selection in the hush money case due to begin on April 15.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg agreed to the delay to allow his own office to review additional documents, too.
Donald Trump at a campaign rally in 2024.Ian Maule/Bloomberg via Getty
Ian Maule/Bloomberg via Getty
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According to an indictment,Trump allegedly orchestrated a hush money scheme that lasted from August 2015 — two months after he formally announced his first run for the presidency — to December 2017, after he took office. During that time, prosecutors claim that he ordered his then-attorney to pay off women who were trying to sell stories about extra-marital affairs with him to the press.
source: people.com
