by Donald Trump was already facing a host of legal difficulties when a New York judge last week handed the former president a huge victory in his civil fraud case, ordering him to pay an estimated $450m to the state after to be held liable for conspiracy to manipulate his net worth. .
Judge Arthur Engoron’s decision capped a bad legal week for Trump, who had watched his lawyers seek access to sealed filings in a classified documents case in Florida and then watched his lawyers lose their an attempt to delay his first criminal trial in New York. .
There may be worse to come.
The immediate priority on Trump’s legal agenda remains, according to people familiar with the matter, figuring out how to find $450m — a figure that includes prejudgment interest — or finding a company willing to help him post bond within 30 day from. when the court made the judgment, so that the penalty can be appealed.
Trump saw the ruling as a two-pronged stab at his personal identity: it is likely to drain his cash accounts almost entirely and it prevents him from running the Trump Organization, the vehicle he has used to build his fame. to achieve, for three years.
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Trump has chosen to avoid using his own money while appealing and his lawyers have contacted several companies to provide the bond, essentially assuring the state that Trump has the money to pay the judgment if he loses his challenge.
To get the bond, Trump would first have to find a company that would be happy to accept it. He would then have to pay a premium to the bond company and offer collateral, probably in the form of his most valuable assets, which would incur interest and fees.
If the penalty is upheld on appeal, Trump will face a huge financial burden. In an interview under oath with the New York Attorney General’s office last year, Trump said he had $400m in cash and cash equivalents, although that figure could not be verified.
Part of that figure comes from Trump’s sales of two properties after leaving the White House, as well as new ventures including a real estate branding deal in Oman.
The markets were intended to give Trump a cash cushion in the event of a sudden financial downturn. But even if Trump’s $400m claim were accurate, upholding the $450m penalty would have clearly wiped that out.
Adding to the total Trump must account for is an $83.3m judgment entered against him last month after he lost a second defamation trial involving E writer Jean Carroll. That figure is not immediately payable, but it is another huge figure that he has to account for.
Trump may eventually run out of cushion and face the need to mortgage or sell some of his properties. Although Trump is not expected to go bankrupt – his total assets are in the billions – it was a huge humiliation for the former president.
The legal woes extend beyond causing him financial pain. On Thursday, it was confirmed that Trump would face trial in New York on charges that he falsified business records over hush money payments to a porn star to protect himself from bad press ahead of the 2016 election.
Jury selection in the case is now scheduled for March 25, despite a last-ditch effort by Trump’s lawyers to stop the trial.
Before the hearing to confirm the trial date, people involved in the case said Trump advisers had some hope that it could be delayed even if they believed it was the most politically advantageous of the four criminal indictments. he had
If Trump has to face a criminal case before the election in November, they would choose the hush money case because Trump may not face jail time even if convicted, an outcome that could turn voters off sensitization to the other, federal criminal cases he faces.
But Trump may have to deal with the fallout from another legal setback in Atlanta, after he and his co-defendants have been accused by the Fulton County district attorney of trying to overturn his 2020 election as he struggles with his claim that she should be disqualified from bringing the case.
The second day of the evidentiary hearing examined whether Fani Willis’ romantic relationship with her deputy, Nathan Wade, was some kind of chic scheme that would be sufficient to create a conflict of interest for the defendants.
The defense asked Terrence Bradley, Wade’s former divorce lawyer, to testify that the relationship began before Willis hired Wade to work on the Trump case on November 1, 2021, to refute the testimony of Willis and Wade. The purpose was for Bradley to contradict Willis and Wade’s sworn testimony, to make the case that they perjured themselves and to argue Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee beyond doubt. on their evidence.
But Bradley was an extremely reluctant witness and testified that he had privileged information about the time the relationship began, but not personal information that he obtained separately from him as Wade’s representative.
By the end of the day, it seemed uncertain whether the defendants had met their burden of proof to force Willis to resign and face the criminal charges in Georgia.
