New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office says the court should require former President Donald Trump to post bond covering the full $464 million-plus penalty in his civil fraud case.
The court also should set an expedited schedule if any judgment should be stayed while the former president appeals his case, the office said.
“The Court should deny the motion in full.”
By state law, appellants must put the full penalty amount into an escrow account or post bond covering that amount in case an appeal fails or is withdrawn.
The state argues that allowing President Trump to do otherwise will undermine its ability to enforce judgments in the future and would “severely harm OAG [Office of the Attorney General] and the public interest.”
State attorneys asked the court to set a June 3 deadline for the defendants’ appeal brief, a reply from the state by Aug. 1, a reply by the defendant on Aug. 22, and a hearing in September.
An appeals court judge has set a March 18 hearing on the issue.
The defense has argued that the sum of $464 million, which includes backdated interest, was set as disgorgement (repayment for ill-gotten gains) but that no profit was ill-gotten.
The statutes referenced in this case would not have allowed a judge to order punitive damages, which are awarded by a jury, but only disgorgement. The defense also said that the formulas the state used to arrive at these figures were arbitrary.
An appeals court can technically order a stay on the judgment if they determine it is “necessary to preserve the status quo” and the appeals court’s jurisdiction. The state argues that this is an “extraordinary” bar that the defense has not met.
One judge has already put a temporary hold on prohibiting President Trump and his adult sons from continuing to run the Trump Organization or taking out loans as the parties prepare for argument.
Seizing Buildings?
The state argued that the defense has never shown that President Trump’s liquid assets are enough to cover the $464 million and that his assets may fluctuate.If he cannot pay, the attorney general will be “forced to expend substantial public resources to execute the judgment if it is affirmed on appeal.”
In an interview shortly after the verdict was issued, Ms. James told ABC News that her office was ready to ask a judge to approve the seizure of Trump Organization buildings if the defense did not pay.
Victims?
The defense has repeatedly decried the fact that the case names no victims, even as state attorneys say the Trump Organization defrauded financial organizations and the public.A New York judge found that the defendants “cost banks lots of money and the attorney general said the organization’s ”misleading“ financial statements ”resulted in insurers charging defendants far too little.”
The state laws used by the attorney general are broad, and as a civil case, the requirements also were not as high as for a criminal case.
“Illegality claims for falsifying business records do not explicitly require materiality,” the state attorneys wrote in the latest filing. “Moreover, as Supreme Court correctly explained, § 63(12) fraud claims require OAG to establish only a capacity or tendency either to deceive or to create an atmosphere conducive to deception.”
The New York judge found that lenders, insurers, and government agencies did “rely” on the Trump Organization statements of financial condition since they used them even if they did additional analyses of Trump Organization finances.
Representatives from the Zurich insurance group and Deutsche Bank, which courted President Trump’s business, had testified that they reviewed the financial statements and also did their own analyses.
President Trump testified that he paid financial institutions back in full and on time, and even early if a bank holiday was around the corner.
The court ruled that even though there was no loan default, the Trump Organization’s practices led to “injecting massive financial risks” into the market, and “the next group of lenders to receive bogus statements might not be so lucky.”
