New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office is pushing back against former President Trump’s claim that securing a bond in his civil case is a “practical impossibility.”
In a document filed by Senior Assistant Solicitor General Dennis Fan, the attorney general urged the court to disregard Trump’s request for a stay on his $464 million civil fraud judgment, calling his demand “extraordinary” and “improper.”
“[T]he Court should not consider defendants’ new allegations and arguments – which contend that a full bond or deposit is a ‘practical impossibility’ […] because they are procedurally improper,” the document states.
TRUMP UNABLE TO GET $464M APPEAL BOND TO STOP COLLECTION, ATTORNEYS SAY: ‘PRACTICAL IMPOSSIBILITY’
Attorney General Letitia James arrives for a press conference following a verdict against former President Trump in a civil fraud trial in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
It continues, “Indeed, defendants here had no reason to wait for their reply to raise their allegations and arguments about the difficulty of obtaining a bond, as their efforts to obtain that bond began before their stay motion was filed and indeed before judgment was even entered.”
Trump’s filing on Monday said, “ongoing diligent efforts have proven that a bond in the judgment’s full amount is ‘a practical impossibility.’”
NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL TAUNTS TRUMP ABOUT INTEREST HE OWES ON CIVIL FRAUD JUDGMENT
The filing also said efforts were made to approach about 30 surety companies through four separate brokers.
“A bond requirement of this enormous magnitude – effectively requiring cash reserves approaching $1 billion […] is unprecedented for a private company,” the Trump filing read.
The Wednesday filing from the New York Attorney General’s Office pushed back on that claim.
“There is nothing unusual about even billion-dollar judgments being fully bonded on appeal,” the document states. “Defendants object to a possible ‘fire sale’ if they were to sell assets to generate cash to use as collateral for a bond or as a deposit – but the alternative would be to shift the risk of executing on defendants’ illiquid assets to OAG.”
The New York district attorney argued that Trump has only shown an inability to secure a single bond for the entirety of the cash amount. Instead, the office argues, Trump should be able to secure the entire value via multiple sureties or offer his real-estate holdings as collateral.
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Former President Trump during a trial at the state Supreme Court in New York. (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“[D]efendants’ new factual allegations and legal arguments fail to support their extraordinary request for a stay based on a bond or deposit of less than one-fourth of the money-judgment amount. Defendants’ argument that obtaining a full bond is purportedly impossible is based on the false premise that they must obtain a single bond from a single surety for the entire judgment amount of $464 million,” the document states.
It adds, “But appealing parties may bond large judgments by dividing the bond amount among multiple sureties, thereby limiting any individual surety’s risk to a smaller sum, such as $100 or $200 million apiece.”
Trump has until Monday to secure the bonds required by the court, or else face the possibility of the attorney general beginning to seize assets.
Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
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