this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2024
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Donald Trump posted a $175 million bond on Monday in his New York civil fraud case, halting collection of the more than $454 million he owes and preventing the state from seizing his assets to satisfy the debt while he appeals, according to a court filing. 

A New York appellate court had given the former president 10 days to put up the money after a panel of judges agreed last month to slash the amount needed to stop the clock on enforcement. 

The bond Trump is posting with the court now is essentially a placeholder, meant to guarantee payment if the judgment is upheld. If that happens, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee will have to pay the state the whole sum, which grows with daily interest. 

If Trump wins, he won’t have to pay the state anything and will get back the money he has put up now.

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[–] KevonLooney@lemm.ee 28 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The idea is the real estate isn't going anywhere. It is technically not what the bond laws say is needed, but then this is a very large amount. This dude is being reamed and the state is not going to let him off the hook.

It would be career suicide in NYC. Most of the city and metro area hate Trump's guts.

[–] snooggums@midwest.social 70 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

They are letting him off the hook by not making him bond the whole amount.

The amount was high because his fraud was high. Why does committing bigger crimes mean less proportionate punishment?

[–] KevonLooney@lemm.ee 19 points 7 months ago (3 children)

You have the right idea. Obviously they should have made him pay the full amount. I think they know he literally doesn't have it.

Remember, the state has a retired judge watching his bank accounts for a while now. They know what he can pay. $175 million in cash is better than them seizing his property quickly because that process is actually very slow.

For everyone who thinks the state should just "take Trump Tower", do you understand that's not something they're good at? They would need to find a buyer. You can't just get a buyer for such a large building in a few days. They really would prefer cash for at least part of the fine.

The building isn't going anywhere and this doesn't affect the judgement.

[–] snooggums@midwest.social 25 points 7 months ago (1 children)

For everyone who thinks the state should just “take Trump Tower”, do you understand that’s not something they’re good at? They would need to find a buyer. You can’t just get a buyer for such a large building in a few days. They really would prefer cash for at least part of the fine.

Then just take all his shit or admit the system can't adequately punish the wealthy out loud instead of pretending that this is somehow a reasonable response to someone saying they can't pay. They can seize regular people's property after all.

[–] bostonbananarama@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Assume for a moment that the appeal comes back and overturns the judgment. Let's even assume that it is a completely legitimate reason for it being overturned.

How do you unwind taking that property and selling it? My understanding is that NY doesn't have a redemption law for property that is levied and sold.

The appeals court has to at least consider the possibility of legitimately overturning the case.

[–] IamtheMorgz@lemmy.world 6 points 7 months ago

Idk why you're being down voted. I just watched a Legal Eagle video that pretty much described the change as being exactly related to this. If the appeal fails, he still owes the original judgement amount and if he doesn't come up with the money they will seize some property. If the appeal works out for the orange man then they don't have to try to undo a sale.

Appeals courts are good things. And everyone, including that a-hole, is entitled to appeal.

Now, it's super annoying he can brag about having the money in public but argue in court he doesn't, but hey, that's our former president. Talks only out of his ass and never suffers any consequences from it.

With any luck the appeal will fail miserably and he'll still be on the hook for the full amount.

[–] snooggums@midwest.social 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Who fucking cares? He is a rich asshole who committed blatant fraud and tried to overthrow the government and worst case is is slightly less wealthy than he was before court while the average person is flat broke from lawyer fees and their lives ruined from the same situation.

Shilling for Trump should make you embarrassed.

[–] bostonbananarama@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Who fucking cares?

About the rule of law? Obviously not you.

You want a specific action taken because you don't like the person involved. Congratulations, you can replace Alito and Thomas when they get off the court. You are fine with changing the law to hurt the people you don't like.

I on the other hand would prefer to preserve the rule of law. There are absolutely no downsides for the action taken by the appeals court, Trump posted $175 million Bond and the properties that they would have seized are still there to be seized in the future if necessary.

If the state levy and sells those properties, it is going to be a nightmare to try and unwind if the appeal were successful. In the meantime, if Trump did somehow sell those properties it would be a fraudulent conveyance, and those sales would be overturned. Other than hating Donald Trump (and I'm with you), there is no downside to this, but I'm not willing to destroy our legal system for him.

[–] snooggums@midwest.social 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The specific action is the standard action in fraud cases. That is caring about the rule of law. You excuse going soft on somebody who committed record breaking levels of fraud because treating him the same as the standard is hard.

If the properties can't get the amount they are claimed to be worth, then they are not worth that much. That is why Trump is having problems getting the bond, because he lied about the value of his properties.

Ther is a massive downside, which is rewarding fraud, both by only having a punishment equal to the fraud and also going easy the bigger the fraud is. That just incentivises more fraud, just like giving rideshares a free pass for bypassing laws that apply to cabs and short term rentals for avoiding lawd that apply to hotels encourages those industries.

[–] bostonbananarama@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I'm not trying to be rude, but it really sounds like you don't know what you're talking about.

If the properties can't get the amount they are claimed to be worth, then they are not worth that much.

Have you ever been involved in levying and selling real property? Do you think that process ever nets fair market value? Most times you don't get 50 cents on the dollar.

Ther is a massive downside, which is rewarding fraud, both by only having a punishment equal to the fraud and also going easy the bigger the fraud is.

Again, this has no bearing on the current case. No one is rewarding fraud and no one is going easy. The court didn't reduce the judgment, the court didn't reduce the interest, all the court did was reduce the amount of bond that had to be posted. If you had some way in which the state of New York was materially disadvantaged by this action, you would have brought it up by now. You don't.

In fact, this might actually work out better for them, because at least now they have $175 million in cash to satisfy a portion of the judgment. As difficult as it can be to litigate a civil action, I think every attorney will tell you that it's often much more difficult to find, levy, and sell assets to satisfy the judgment. If the assets are in another jurisdiction then you have to domesticate your judgment, some states make that simple, some states make that fairly difficult.

You also indicated that this is "record breaking levels of fraud", whatever that means, but advocate for the "standard action and fraud cases". Perhaps such a record-breaking event should warrant actions other than the standard. But that concept would require thought, so don't worry about it.

[–] snooggums@midwest.social 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Do you think that process ever nets fair market value? Most times you don’t get 50 cents on the dollar.

If you think property worth is more than what people will pay for them, then you are doing what Trump was found guilty of doing.

[–] bostonbananarama@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

At some point you're going to stop proving how ignorant you are, right?

Listing a property with a broker on the open market is going to get you fair market value. Levying and selling that same property is an entirely different process and is going to net you far less money, usually closer to fifty cents on the dollar. No fraud involved.

[–] whostosay@lemmy.world 22 points 7 months ago

You have the right idea. Obviously they should have made him pay the full amount. I think they know he literally doesn't have it.

SO HE CAN GET FUCKED, ANY OF US WOULD BE FUCKED. I'm so tired of the acceptance.

[–] supamanc@lemmy.world 11 points 7 months ago (1 children)

For everyone who thinks the state should just "take Trump Tower", do you understand that's not something they're good at? They would need to find a buyer. You can't just get a buyer for such a large building in a few days. They really would prefer cash for at least part of the fine.

I think you don't understand how asset forfeiture works. Trump tower is worth (reportedly) some $800m. The state seizes and sell it for the $500m he owes. They would find a buyer pretty quickly at that price. Any extra on top of the judgment amount is returned with compliments to Trump.

[–] baru@lemmy.world 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I think you don't understand how asset forfeiture works.

I don't understand. Still, from what I've read most of the buildings are anything but fully owned by Trump. And apparently that makes things difficult.

[–] supamanc@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

Ah, well that's an aspect I hadn't considered!