Legal experts weigh in on Trump’s options after failure to get $464M appeal bond

Legal experts are weighing in on Donald Trump’s options after attorneys for the previous president mentioned he has not been in a position to safe a $464 million appeal bond he wants following a New York civil fraud judgment towards him. 

Trump’s attorneys wrote in a Monday court docket submitting that getting the almost half-a-billion appeal was a “practical impossibility under the circumstances presented.” 

David Gelman, a prison protection legal professional and a former deputy district legal professional, referred to as the judgment a “unicorn.” He argued that the choose ought to give Trump much more leeway to fulfill the bond as a result of “not even the richest man in the world has $464 million lying around.” 

Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks throughout a Buckeye Values PAC Rally in Vandalia, Ohio, on March 16, 2024.  (KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP by way of Getty Images)

A New York Appeals Court choose denied Trump’s request late final month to delay cost of the $464 million owed because of the lawsuit introduced by New York State Attorney General Letitia James, however mentioned he would briefly permit the 2024 front-runner and his sons to proceed working their enterprise in the course of the appeals course of. 

A New York Appeals Court choose beforehand dominated that the previous president should publish a bond for the complete quantity of the judgment and that an unbiased director of compliance will probably be appointed.  

That ruling comes after New York Judge Arthur Engoron handed down his choice earlier in February after a months-long trial starting in October in which the previous president was accused of inflating his property and committing fraud in monetary paperwork.

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Engoron dominated that Trump and different defendants had been answerable for “persistent and repeated fraud,” “falsifying business records,” “issuing false financial statements,” “conspiracy to falsify false financial statements,” “insurance fraud” and “conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.”

Gelman instructed Fox News Digital that “everyone needs to realize how unprecedented this is.” 

“There has never been a judgment of this magnitude against a company or individual in the history of New York, so we are really in uncharted territory.” 

New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks throughout a information convention, Sept. 21, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman, File)

Gelman mentioned Trump has three options: not appeal, ask the court docket to permit Attorney General James to use his property as collateral, or take it to a federal court docket and say the New York regulation is unconstitutional on its face. 

“Courts really don’t deny bonds when there are other ways to pay. Again, because this is so unprecedented, and I don’t care how rich you are, nobody has that much liquid cash. So if a court had the option to allow a defendant to use some other collateral to satisfy the bond, they will,” Gelman mentioned. 

He added that there was no purpose for the choose or Attorney General James to say no. 

“You’re dealing with Trump. He’s not going anywhere. He’s the most famous and well known person in the world. It’s not like he can just disappear and can’t be found,” Gelman mentioned. 

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Former federal prosecutor Andrew Cherkasky instructed Fox News’ The Story with Martha MacCallum that he “would not count Trump out yet.” 

Cherkasky mentioned that even when the court docket denies Trump’s appeal, he “still has paths to move forward through federal court – ultimately to the Supreme Court to complain about Eight Amendment violations.” 

Per the Eighth Amendment, which offers with merciless and weird punishment, “excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” 

Laura Trump speaks on the NCGOP state conference with former U.S. President Donald Trump on June 5, 2021 in Greenville, North Carolina. (Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images)

Cherkasky argued that the fines imposed on Trump had been so “astronomically high here that it seems unbelievable for the Constitution to permit it under these circumstances.” 

“I think – and I hope – that the New York Court of Appeals looks at it appropriately,” Cherkasky mentioned. “But like I said, I think even the Supreme Court would have an interest in this case on Eighth Amendment grounds.” 

Trump legal professional Alina Habba instructed the X22 report Monday she was “confident” Trump’s debt can be dismissed. 

“Despite the fact that witnesses frankly had said that they were great clients, we all made money, they did nothing wrong, we got slammed with this egregious number, and I’m confident we’ll overturn it,” Habba instructed the net podcast. 

Writing on his Truth Social platform later Monday, Trump referred to as the bond set by Engoron “unconsitutitonal, un-American, unprecedented, and practically impossible for ANY company, including one as successful as mine.” 

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“The Bonding Companies have never heard of such a bond of this size before nor do they have the ability to post such a bond, even if they wanted to,” Trump wrote. 

Fox News’ Greg Norman contributed to this report.