“Now looky here, I did not say I was a millionaire, but I said I've spent more money than a millionaire; cause if I had kept all of the money I done already spent, I would have been a millionaire a long time ago..." Blues legend Howlin' Wolf's rendition of the classic,"Going Down Slow"
Amid yesterday's headlines, many of you may be wondering two questions:
1. What is an appeals bond?
2. Why has Donald Trump, a man who often boasts about being a billionaire, had such a difficult time securing a bond as he appeals the $464 million judgment in New York State Court?
Per usual, I'm here to answer both questions in real time!
Last month, New York Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Mr. Trump and his co-defendants to pay a total of $464 million in damages after finding them liable for violating a New York anti-fraud statute. Judge Engoron held that Trump, his sons Donald and Eric, and the Trump Organization fraudulently inflated the value of their assets to help boost their net worth to obtain benefits from lenders.
Immediately following Judge Engoron’s judgment, Trump blasted the ruling, calling it an “unAmerican judgment against me, my family, and my tremendous business.” Trump vowed to appeal the ruling, per his rights under New York law, but to do so requires a significant financial burden that we now know the former president seems incapable of bearing.
What is an Appeals Bond?
In civil cases, whenever a losing party has a monetary judgment issued against it, should the loser elect to appeal that judgment, the courts require that some form of surety is issued so that the prevailing party can collect the funds it was awarded if the appellate courts ultimately uphold the final verdict.
In some cases, if the losing party has the funds to cover the judgment, they can deposit the same into the clerk of court's registry—where it will remain until a final judgment is issued by the higher courts. In cases with larger monetary verdicts, like the instant Trump case, the losing party can post a bond if they can secure one from a licensed lender.
Now, the reason that such bonds are necessary is because the overwhelming majority of civil case verdicts are upheld in whole (or in part) on appeal. Following this logic, the likelihood that Trump et al will have this verdict totally overturned is slim—no matter what he says on the campaign trail.
Further, contrary to popular (and Trump's) belief, an appeal is not a "do over" before a separate set of judges. Rather, the appellate process allows a higher court to review what transpired in the lower court case in the form of judicial rulings on pretrial motions, evidentiary objections and motion rulings during trial, and all post trial motions. In this role, the appellate courts are looking to determine whether the trial judge made errors in one or more of the aforementioned areas that run contrary to the prevailing law—and were fatal to the losing party’s case, which, again, is relatively rare.
Why is “Billionaire Donald” struggling to pay?
While the former president’s lawyers were able to secure an appeals bond in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case which covers that $91.6 million dollar judgment, in its filings yesterday, the legal team stated that Mr. Trump has diligently sought to secure enough to cover the $464 million dollar judgment—but that 30 surety firms have declined to extend their services in this matter.
Donald Trump and E. Jean Carroll
Now, perhaps you may be curious as to why Trump hasn't just deposited the amount himself, being the rich billionaire that he boasts of being ALL of the time? The simple answer is that Trump isn't flush with cash, as his alleged billionaire status is largely tied up in real estate holdings, like his Mar-A-Lago mansion in Palm Beach, Florida. It seems that in the wake of this latest adverse judgment, no surety firm has been willing to allow Trump to put up his holdings as the sole collateral, as the same prefer some mixture of liquid assets as well.
Such is why the Trump defense team is now left to beg the court to extend mercy by either lowering the judgment significantly (to $100 million), or allowing some other alternative (read creative) forms of sureties, such as signing over assorted property holdings to the court registry.
The irony is that Trump now finds himself at the appellate court’s mercy, this after routinely firing off nasty comments about the court system in general—opposing counsels and presiding judges specifically—only to be left at their judicial colleagues’ mercy as the March 25th “put up, or shut up” date rapidly approaches!
Now, while some legal pundits reasoned last month that Trump could quickly sell off assets to satisfy the judgment, his own lawyer, Alina Habba, dispelled this possibility in a court filing in which she wrote, “If (Trump's) forced to sell, there would be no way to recover any property sold following a successful appeal and no means to recover the resulting financial losses…”
Well, um, yeah, counselor—such are ALWAYS the stakes for any civil defendant, no matter how rich, allegedly rich, middle class, working class, or poor!
In the event that Trump does not get some type of delay or relief from this judgment, New York State Attorney General Letitia James's next move will be to collect what's owed through some mixture of garnishment actions and seizures of Trump owned properties so that the state could sell the same off at its will.
Still, before any Trumpian “everything must go” sale happens, there's always the possibility that his Republican benefactors, including real billionaires like Elon Musk, may swoop in to keep the "USS Trumptanic" afloat; or, the former president, author of “The Art of the Deal,” could resort to the "art of the grift" by asking his millions of loyal followers to empty their pockets to help save his financial cause?
While the grift game is always possible, the problem is that the Republican Party already is significantly trailing the Democratic Party on the finance trail this year, so much so that the NY Times and Washington Post have reported in recent weeks that Trump is sorely afraid that he will not catch up with President Biden financially in time to purchase enough ads to swing the tide in swing states that are crucial to his election prospects. That, coupled with his clear inability to self finance his reelection efforts, is making this late winter one of Trump’s financial discontent—even as he remains in a statistical dead heat with Mr. Biden.
Stay tuned...
What a great write-up and it’s definitely on point. Thanks for your writings Chuck Hobbs and we love you brother!
I am a little late reading this one Brother Chuck...my only response in my E. Jean Carroll voice is...B**CH BETTA HAVE MY MONEY