Washington, DC [US]: US former president Donald Trump, his adult sons, and two former Trump Organization officials, on Monday (local time), appealed the USD 464 million judgment entered against them in the New York attorney general’s civil fraud case, according to CNN.
Trump filed a notice of appeal with the court on the first business day after Judge Arthur Engoron made the judgment official.
Moreover, he is personally on the hook for USD 454 million, including interest payments, as reported by CNN.
The attorneys in their filing, highlighted that they were appealing the money judgment and other relief, including the bans against the Trumps from serving as officers of New York corporations for years and whether the judge “committed errors of law and/or fact, abused its discretion, and/or acted in excess of its jurisdiction.”
However, it was not immediately clear how Trump planned to cover the money needed for the appeal.
Moreover, the former US president will have to put up cash or post-bond to cover the USD 355 million and an additional roughly USD 100 million in interest he was ordered to pay, CNN reported.
Additionally, his sons were each ordered to pay over USD 4 million back in gains they improperly received because of the fraud.
Jeremy Saland, a criminal defence attorney, said, “If he does not provide all those dollars then that interest is going to keep ticking throughout the entirety of the case. The bottom line is he’s in trouble.”
“He doesn’t have to put up the money to appeal. He puts up the money to stop bleeding more money. The way to cover that wound is with cash,” Saland added.
Reportedly, the interest accrued at an annual rate of 9 per cent until the payment is made in full, the lawyers said.
If Trump posts a bond, which could be backed by properties or other assets, it stops the attorney general from seizing his property, as reported by CNN.
Trump could also ask the appeals court to stay the judgment or ask them to not require him to post the money until later.
According to some lawyers, it is more common for companies to have to post judgements of this amount, but the sheer size of it for an individual is in some ways uncharted territory.
