Trump faces financial catastrophe due to million-dollar sentence in New York

Of all the legal problems facing Donald Trump, conviction in a New York real estate fraud case presents the most immediate risks. The former president risks bankruptcy or asset seizure from today if he is unable to secure a bail of 454 million dollars (419 million euros). This is the end of the grace period granted by the Attorney General of New York, Letitia James, for Trump to secure bail or pay the amount to which he was sentenced by the judge of the State Supreme Court, Arthur Engoron.

Early last week, Trump’s lawyers told an appeals court that the tycoon did not have the liquidity to make the payment and 30 insurance companies refused to guarantee bail. Without a stay of execution of the sentence while the appeal takes place, Trump really has to pay today.

“The judgment amount, with interest, exceeds $464 million and very few bail bond companies will consider a bond that approaches that magnitude,” the attorneys wrote. To the 454 million that Donald Trump was ordered to pay, there is almost ten million that his sons Don Jr. and Eric must repay.

The problem, according to the tycoon’s legal representatives, is that insurance companies require cash, shares or other liquid assets as collateral, rather than the real estate assets that make up the bulk of his fortune. To get bail, Trump would have to present 120% of the sentence amount, or about 557 million. Lawyers called this “impossible.”

But on Friday, Trump appeared to contradict the argument with statements he posted on his Truth Social network.

“Through hard work, talent and luck I have nearly $500 million in cash, a substantial amount that I intended to use in my campaign for president,” he wrote. The Republican candidate later accused Judge Engoron of knowing this and trying to take his money with “a shocking number” in the sentence.

Judge Arthur Engoron proved accusations that Trump and his company used false financial reports to deceive banks and insurance companies, inflating the value of properties and businesses. The penalty of 355 million dollars increased to 454 million due to interest and Trump was also banned from holding senior positions in any companies based in New York. Including yours.

Regardless of the appeal, Trump is required to either secure bail or pay the amount in full, which continues to increase at the rate of $100,000 per day from the date of sentencing, February 23.

Close sources who have spoken to North American media reveal that Trump was counting on the Chubb Corporation, the New Jersey insurance giant, to secure bail. The company had agreed to do so in the ruling in a separate case, in which Trump was ordered to pay $91.6 million for defamation to E. Jean Carroll. However, Chubb informed Trump’s lawyers that covering the $454 million was out of the question.

Since declaring bankruptcy is an option that Trump does not want, according to sources cited by the Washington Post, the other scenario is the seizure of properties, bank accounts or other assets by the attorney general’s office. Letitia James can begin enforcing the terms of the judgment today and initial steps were taken last week with the entry of the judgment in Westchester County to allow for the seizure of the Seven Springs property and golf course.

Trump was outraged by this possibility in another post in Truth Social, complaining about “a corrupt judge from the radical left” who wants to “confiscate property in New York that took a lifetime of hard work to accumulate and build.”