Former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants gave notice Monday they’re appealing the ruling against them in the civil fraud case accusing the Trump Organization of fraudulently misstating the value of their assets—though that won’t stop Trump from still having to pay the $454 million judgment against him or post a bond in the meantime.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom during his civil fraud trial at New York ... [+]
Trump and his business associates filed a notice of appeal Monday saying they’re appealing the ruling against them, which found them broadly liable for fraudulently misstating the value of assets in order to obtain more favorable business deals and reflect a higher net worth for Trump.
The defendants still have to take additional steps to formally appeal the ruling after giving notice.
The appeal doesn’t stay the judgment against Trump and his co-defendants, as New York state Judge Arthur Engoron ordered them to pay $464.6 million including pre-judgment interest—with Trump specifically liable for $454.2 million of that—on top of other non-monetary penalties like barring Trump and his sons from leading New York businesses for three and two years, respectively.
In order to pause the judgment—meaning New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the lawsuit, couldn’t try to seize Trump’s assets to force him to pay—Trump will have to either pay the cash he owes, plus an additional amount for interest, into a court-controlled account while the case gets appealed, or post an appeals bond, in which a third-party company guarantees Trump’s ability to pay.
Trump could also ask Engoron or an appeals court to pause the judgment against him or lessen the penalty he has to pay, as he recently did—unsuccessfully—in a separate case against him brought by writer E. Jean Carroll.
Federal law gives defendants 30 days to pay a judgment against them before plaintiffs could start taking action to recover the money they’re owed, but New York state law doesn’t have a similar grace period. That means James could technically start coming after Trump’s assets at any time if he doesn’t post a bond, though The New York Times notes her office is expected to wait until March 25, which is 30 days after the judgment was filed. (That date is also the start of Trump’s first criminal trial in Manhattan.)
$111,983.86. That’s how much interest will be added each day to the amount that Trump owes in the civil fraud case, according to James’ office, part of $114,553.04 that will accrue daily on the total amount Trump and his co-defendants owe. (Trump’s sons have each been ordered to pay approximately $4 million plus interest, while former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg has to pay $1 million.) The interest will keep accruing until Trump totally pays off the judgment, including while the case is appealed.
It still remains to be seen what Trump will do to pay the money he owes. Forbes estimated in September Trump has some $426 million in cash and liquid assets—part of an estimated $640 million in total personal assets—which isn’t enough to cover the full amount he owes. His repayment is also complicated by the fact that the fraud ruling bars him from obtaining loans from companies that are registered in New York, and experts have suggested Trump could face issues with finding a company willing to post his appeal bond. Trump could borrow against his real estate assets, as Forbes estimates the ex-president’s mortgage-free properties are collectively worth more than $1.1 billion. He could also take other routes like getting a wealthy friend to help him pay the cost or trying to use shares as collateral from an expected merger between his social media company Trump Media & Technology Group and Digital World Acquisition Corporation, which the Times notes could close days before his deadline to pay. If Trump can’t pay up or secure a bond, James has said she will ask the court to start seizing his real estate assets.
James sued Trump, his business associates—including his sons—and the Trump Organization in 2022, accusing them of fraudulently misstating the value of assets on financial statements more than 200 times between 2011 and 2021. Engoron found Trump and his co-defendants liable for fraud by misstating the value of their assets even before a trial began in the case, and the monthslong trial determined whether Trump and his allies were liable on other allegations, such as whether the fraud was committed knowingly. Engoron ruled in February Trump and his co-defendants were broadly liable for fraudulently misstating their assets for personal gain, shooting down arguments from Trump’s attorneys that the company’s accountants were actually to blame for any errors with their financial statements and that the valuations were subjective numbers based on Trump’s real estate expertise. The judge found there was “overwhelming evidence” to suggest Trump and his sons would be aware that the numbers they were signing off on in financial statements were false and criticized the Trump defendants’ refusal to acknowledge any issue with their valuations, writing their insistence the numbers were right “borders on pathological.” Trump has continued to decry the case against him and the judge’s ruling, which he has painted as a “witch hunt” designed to hurt his presidential campaign, and had vowed to appeal the ruling prior to Monday’s notice of appeal.