Donald Trump was supposed to have to post a $464 million bond by Monday or else the state of New York could begin collecting on the massive civil fraud judgment leveled against him earlier this year. An appeals court bailed him out, blocking collection of the judgment and giving the former president 10 days to post a drastically reduced $175 million bond.
The order is a huge win for Trump, whose assets were going to be subject to seizure if he couldn’t post nearly half-a-billion dollars by Monday. His lawyers said last week he wasn’t going to be able to come up with the money after 30 underwriters rejected him. The New York Times has reported that Trump is expected to be able to scrounge the new, reduced $175 million bond
The whole point of the bond is to prevent pointless appeals in the court (which I have to assume this will be) and, more importantly, serves as a guarantee the defendant will fulfill their obligations and pay at the end of an appeal failure, which … trump is absolutely a risk of not paying. And these judges have now effectively cast the guarantee aside.
Perhaps, but do you agree everyone should be able to appeal?
Sure, and frankly there is nothing preventing trump from appealing. However an appeal is not a green light to ignore or discard the lower court’s decision in the interim. Specifically outlined in the NY Court website
"Filing a Notice of Appeal does not stop or stay the winning side from taking steps to collect or enforce the judgment from the lower court. To put the collection on hold, you may have to ask the court for a stay. You may have to pay an amount of money equal to the judgment amount, called an undertaking, to the court while the appeal is being decided. "
And further to the point, I’d still like to understand what context he’s appealing under that was so compelling. This is a financial case, the facts and accounting figures supporting the judgement will presumably not change, leaving little room for a successful appeal.
Ultimately I’m of the opinion this is a frivolous appeal, and trump will not find the full amount owed at the end of it. By lowering the bond the appeals court has neutered the purpose of securing the bond in the first place, which can only to lead to more delays and difficulties collecting in the future.