From 'practical impossibility' to done deal: How Trump posted the $175 million bond in his civil fraud case
From 'practical impossibility' to done deal: How Trump posted the $175 million bond in his civil fraud case
Negotiations were underway to post a $557 million bond when an appeals court reduced the bond, according to one of the participants, billionaire Don Hankey.
Looks like it actually was possible to bond the whole amount.
Don Hankey, the billionaire chairman of Knight Insurance Group, told NBC News he was negotiating to post a far heftier bond of $557 million with the Trump Organization when the state Appellate Division lowered the size of the required bond to $175 million.
Theres only so much of this shit I'm willing to see. I'm on the edge of being fully radicalized, to the point where I could leave my kids to go fight.
Possibly the most eye opening quote is at the end of the article:
"When the bond was reduced, we thought they could cover the damages themselves and didn’t think we’d hear back from them again, but they called us back" a couple of days later, Hankey said. The talks went quickly, with the company saying it would collateralize the full amount using a combination of cash and bonds. The money it eventually did put up appeared to be all cash, Hankey added."
Some billionaires expected Trump to be able to post the bond, but Trump could not. If Trump is fooling billionaires, do you really think he's not fooling you?
"Hey bro, can you lend me $450?"
"Yeah maybe man. You don't have it?"
"Nah. I've got almost enough though."
"Hey man, I actually don't need the full amount now. Just $175."
"Bro, I thought you said you had that money."
"Uhhh..."
It’s just… like, what the actual fuck does this insurance company think is gonna happen? He’s gonna stiff them, and tie it up in court indefinitely. It’s not a mystery. He’s done it before. He will do it again. It’s a pattern and practice.
It's interesting that he went and got the bond anyway, even though he had the cash to cover the full amount. The fee the bond company is charging is significant. I suspect the better financial decision would have been to just hand the cash over. Even in the unlikely event the judgement is vacated on appeal, the Court would give back the money and he's just be out the interest he would have made.
Also interesting the guy went and blabbed that they were in talks with Trump for the full amount. One of his justifications for getting it reduced was the idea that it would be impossible to get the full amount. But althat appeared to be yet another lie.
Let's audit this guy's company to see if it had a sudden infusion of cash recently.
The court already has a financial monitor in place at the Trump Organization, retired federal judge Barbra Jones. As part of the verdict, she’s staying for the next three years. She has complete access to the books, and will wave a red flag if she sees anything suspicious.
When youre famous they let you do it.
He's probably going to win the election at this pace and then we're all fucked.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Lawyers for former President Donald Trump were in discussions to pull off what they'd described as a "practical impossibility" when a New York appeals court reduced the size of the bond they had to post because of a judgment in his civil fraud case by almost $400 million.
The posting of the bond prevents New York Attorney General Letitia James from collecting on the $464 million judgment against Trump and his co-defendants in a civil fraud case while the appeals process plays out.
In New York, if a person or a company wants to pause a judgment while they appeal, they typically have to post security for the full award, and then some.
They argued that having to post the full amount was "impossible" and would require Trump and his company to start selling off assets because they didn't have that much cash on hand.
“Defendants’ ongoing diligent efforts have proven that a bond in the judgment’s full amount is ‘a practical impossibility,’” they said in a March 18 filing.
Experts told NBC News that Trump needed the appeals court to hit pause because if James started seizing assets, the results could have been disastrous for his company, potentially leading to bankruptcy.
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