Trump’s Lawyers Rip Letitia James for Denial Request of $454M Bond Appeal: ‘Illogical,’ ‘Unconstitutional,’ ‘Unjust’
Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers slammed New York Attorney General Letitia James for asking an appeals court on Wednesday to reject Trump’s request to reduce or hold off collecting the $454 million bond to cover a civil fraud judgment.
James argued that Trump did not explore every option to post bond, including securing multiple smaller bonds or handing the real estate to the court. She asked the court to reject Trump’s request to postpone collection without bond while his lawyers work through the appeals process.
Trump’s attorney, Clifford Robert, said James’s suggestions were “illogical,” “unconstitutional,” “impractical,” and “unjust.”
“Perhaps worst of all, the Attorney General argues that Defendants should be forced to dispose of iconic, multi-billion-dollar real-estate holdings in a ‘fire sale,’” Robert wrote in the letter to New York’s Appellate Division on Thursday.
“As explained in Defendants’ Affirmations, those separate bonds would still require a total collateralization of cash or cash equivalents in excess of $557 million, regardless of how many sureties were involved,” Robert explained about James’s proposal of posting several smaller bonds.
Robert continued:
It would be completely illogical — and the definition of an unconstitutional Excessive Fine and a Taking — to require Defendants to sell properties at all, and especially in a “fire sale,” in order to be able to appeal the lawless Supreme Court judgment, as that would cause harm that cannot be repaired once the Defendants do win, as is overwhelmingly likely, on appeal.
Trump must post a liquid (cash, securities) bond covering the full amount of the $454 million judgment to pause enforcement of the judgment, but 30 surety companies told Trump they would not accept real estate assets as collateral, Trump’s lawyers said Monday.
James could seek to freeze some of his bank accounts and properties if Trump cannot post the $454 million bond. Enforcement against Trump could begin as soon as March 25.
Trump Tower in NYC (Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
James might be in the position to collect the grand sum by three methods, USA Today reported:
- Placing liens against properties
- Collecting rents from properties
- Collecting funds from Trump’s New York State bank accounts
“There’s a lot that you can do here in New York,” Mitchell Epner, a longtime New York litigator, told USA Today. “It’s not just limited to real estate.”
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