This Wednesday, Donald Trump’s lawyers asked the New York Court of Appeal to stay the collection of a civil fraud judgment worth about 420 million euros while the appeal is pending.
Instead of the total amount, lawyers are asking the court to pay Trump bail of just over 92 million euros ($100 million), the Associated Press (AP) news agency reported.
The lawyers argued that Judge Arthur Engoron’s Feb. 16 decision to bar Trump, his company and co-defendants from obtaining loans from New York banks for three years made it impossible to obtain bail that would cover the full amount of the verdict.
“The exorbitant and punitive amount of the sentence, coupled with the illegal and unconstitutional blanket ban on credit transactions, will make it impossible to obtain and pay the full amount of the bail,” wrote attorneys Clifford Robert, Alina Habba and Michael Farina.
So instead of an automatic stay, they are asking the court to grant a temporary stay that would prevent New York Attorney General Letitia James from carrying out the sentence while Trump’s appeal is pending.
The prosecutor has already said she will try to confiscate some of Trump’s assets if he fails to comply with the sentence.
Judge Arthur Engoron concluded that Trump, his company and his top executives, including his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr., plotted for years to defraud banks and insurance companies by inflating their financial wealth.
Among other sanctions, a Manhattan Supreme Court judge imposed strict restrictions on the Trump Organization’s ability to do business, a decision that led the former president to file an appeal on Monday.
Trump was not required to pay a fine or post bail to appeal, and filing an appeal did not automatically stay his sentence.
The Republican presidential candidate must receive a deferment by March 25. This is a legal mechanism that suspends charges pending an appeal.
Trump will receive an automatic stay if he provides money, assets or bonds to cover his debt. He also had the option, which he is now exercising, to ask the appeals court to grant a stay with a lower bail.
Trump’s lawyers argued that Trump’s extensive real estate holdings and oversight required by the Engoron decision “would by themselves be sufficient to adequately secure any affirmative verdict.”
The €92 million bail, they added, “will simply serve as additional security.”
Trump, the leading Republican presidential candidate, claims to be worth several billion euros and revealed last year that he had about 369 million euros ($400 million) in cash, in addition to real estate and other investments.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Dave Martin, and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. As a part of my work, I write for 24 News Reporters, covering mostly sports-related topics. With more than 5 years of experience as a journalist, I have written numerous articles on various topics to provide accurate information to readers.