NY AG's Office Asks Judge Engoron to Void Trump's $175M Bond in Civil Fraud Case

By Becca Lower | 7:41 PM on April 19, 2024

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It appeared in late March that the wrangling over former President Donald Trump's ability to pay the $454 million in damages ordered in the civil fraud case brought against him by New York state Attorney General Letitia James' office was sorted out. Sure, James also started to make noises that she would try to seize Trump's property--and Judge Arthur Engoron slapped on court supervision of the Trump Organization's finances for the next three years.But remember that in lieu of having to immediately pay the massive judgment, Trump put up a bond of $175 million while appealing the decision.

Radical Judge Engoron Punishes Trump More, Orders Court to Oversee Organization's Finances for 3 Years

It isn't over, though. On Friday, the NY AG's office filed a request with Judge Engoron to void the surety bond:

The AG’s office in a filing said Trump and other defendants in the case had failed to show there is enough identifiable collateral to back the bond for the judgment in Manhattan Supreme Court.
The filing notes that the surety Trump used to obtain the bond, Knight Specialty Insurance Company, is “a small insurer that is not authorized to write business in New York and thus not regulated by the state’s insurance department, had never before written a surety bond in New York or in the prior two years in any other jurisdiction, and has a total policyholder surplus of just $138 million.”
The filing opposes a joint motion by Trump and KSIC to justify the insurer as the surety company holding the bond.

What's AG Letitia James asking Trump to do now? Find a whole other source to secure things in the next seven days:

Lawyers for AG Letitia James asked Judge Arthur Engoron to require Trump and other defendants to put up a replacement bond within seven days of ruling on the issue.

This is a developing story, so stay tuned for updates here. We'll see how things shake out during a hearing scheduled for Monday.