Donald Trump loses bid to delay enforcement of $450mn New York fraud verdict

A New York judge has denied Donald Trump’s request to temporarily stop the state’s attorney-general from collecting on a $450mn judgment against the former US president as he appeals against the civil fraud ruling.

The decision on Wednesday means Trump will have to find hundreds of millions of dollars to deposit with the court, or risk his assets — including his New York properties — being seized by state authorities.

Earlier on Wednesday, lawyers for the Republican presidential frontrunner had said their client was unable to post the full sum necessary to delay enforcement of the judgment, which includes prejudgment interest, and offered instead to put up a bond worth $100mn.

“The exorbitant and punitive amount of the judgment . . . would make it
impossible to secure and post a complete bond,” they wrote.

The New York attorney-general’s office, which brought the claim, in
turn asked the appellate division to force Trump to post the full
amount, arguing that he had all but admitted that he had “insufficient liquid assets to satisfy the judgment”.

They pointed out that Trump had other “significant liabilities”,
including an outstanding judgment of $83mn in a case brought by E
Jean Carroll, the writer whom a New York jury found last month had been defamed by him. A different jury in a related case had previously ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5mn.

In a two-page order, Justice Anil Singh of the New York appellate division declined to accept the lower $100mn bond, but did agree to postpone the enforcement of other non-financial penalties against Trump, including barring him from running a business in the state for several years or taking out loans from state-chartered institutions.

The battle over the bond has underlined the financial burden that the legal judgments have imposed on Trump, a billionaire who made his fortune in real estate and is mounting a costly campaign for a second term as president even while he battles other court cases around…