"Trump owes this money because he fraudulently misrepresented the value of his assets—and now (oops) apparently no one will accept those assets as collateral."

Less than a month after New York Attorney General Letitia James said she would be willing to seize former Republican President Donald Trump’s assets if he is unable to pay the $464 million required by last month’s judgment in his civil fraud case, Trump’s lawyers disclosed in court filings Monday that he had failed to secure a bond for the amount.

In the nearly 5,000-page filing, lawyers for Trump said it has proven a “practical impossibility” for Trump to secure a bond from any financial institutions in the state, as “about 30 surety companies” have refused to accept assets including real estate as collateral and have demanded cash and other liquid assets instead.

To get the institutions to agree to cover that $464 million judgment if Trump loses his appeal and fails to pay the state, he would have to pledge more than $550 million as collateral—“a sum he simply does not have,” reportedThe New York Times, despite his frequent boasting of his wealth and business prowess.

  • EatATaco@lemm.eeEnglish
    61·
    1 year ago

    I thought he had claimed he didn’t? Do you know where I can find this information?

      • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
        39·
        1 year ago

        That’s still not enough.

        Also giving up ALL your cash is a bad idea, you’d want to do that as a mix of cash and other assets, so he’d still need someone willing to use those as collateral.

        • BakerBagel@midwest.social
          7·
          1 year ago

          We wouldn’t give it up, he woild just use some of it as collateral for his bond. He gives insurance company $40,000,000 and they pay the full amount, or whatever they negotiate.

          He doesn’t have enough cash for the down payment for his loan essentially.

          • michaelmrose@lemmy.worldEnglish
            3·
            1 year ago

            This isn’t bail with a small risk of loss paid for by the guaranteed loss of 10% to the bondsman. This is 99% Chance of loss on a settled case with the reasonable expectation that Trump would fight collection tooth and nail, try to pay less than face via bankruptcy etc. It’s a risk of hundreds of millions of dollars that would take YEARS to settle. Years in which lenders could be earning returns if that money was invested elsewhere. 30 institutions said no.

            He needs to secure the loan with cash or cash equivalents for the whole shebang. Nobody wants properties which he has already borrowed against even if the net of value and loan are positive to the tune of hundreds of millions its risky and challenging to sell. He should have started mortgaging when the judge told him he’d lost and they were only determining the scope of the loss so he could have obtained favorable terms.

          • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
            23·
            1 year ago

            He has to put up 550 million.

            If he locks up 400 million (all his cash) he has no cash until this is over with and he gets it back and he can then sell assets if needed to cover it.

            That’s not a good financial move for anyone.

            No one wants to use any of his asset collateral because he’s lied about its worth so he has to use his cash.

            Edit: to clarify, no one wants to risk 500 million if he gives them 50 because they don’t think they can get the 500 back from him if he tries to back out of it.

              • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
                1·
                1 year ago

                Just to be clear - I’m in no way shape or form supporting Trump. I’m just pointing out using all your cash, in any circumstance, is not a good idea. He has to solve his own problem even if it’s a bad situation

          • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
            31·
            1 year ago

            This isn’t about him paying his legal bill, it’s about a bond to appeal.

            Using all your cash to appeal is a bad idea for ANYONE

            if you lose the appeal, you can then decide on your cash and asset mix to pay it off.

            Edit: think about it this way. If you can put up asset collateral on a appeal that’ll take a year, that’s a whole year you could be earning interest on the cash and have cash for an emergency. Maybe you go half and half so you don’t risk as much of the other assets. Leaving yourself with no cash is just bad. He’s in a really bad situation so maybe he only has bad options, but that doesn’t mean it’s not bad.