>Trump Might Be Too Broke for a $175 Million Bond, Too
>
>Trump Might Be Too Broke for a $175 Million Bond, Too
>And that would be doubly embarrassing for him.
>Trump at a press conference in New York City
>Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
>Trump at a press conference in New York City on Monday
>
>A New York appeals court on Monday reduced the $454 million that former
>President Donald Trump was required to put up while he appeals his civil
>fraud case. Now Trump must put up, by April 4, a mere $175 million. The
>trouble is, he may not get a bond for that amount, either. Should that
>happen, this act of judicial mercy will end up feeling to Trump like a
>curse.
>
>The stay deprives Trump of the only argument on which he was gaining any
>traction at all�that the amount the court required him to put up was
>excessively high. Four hundred and fifty-four million was indeed an
>unusually large judgment against a private corporation or individual. (The
>distinction between Trump and the Trump Organization is paper-thin.)
>Monday�s appeals court decision doesn�t reduce that judgment, as New York
>State Attorney General Letitia James pointed out in a written statement.
>But it does dramatically reduce the amount Trump needs to turn over to the
>state while he pursues his appeal. It also gives us some hint that the
>appeals court may reduce Judge Arthur Engoron�s $454 million judgment to,
>well, $175 million.
>
>Before the stay, Trump was quite literally comparing his financial
>situation to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. In a posting early Monday
>morning on Truth Social, he quoted this message from a supporter: �It�s
>ironic that Christ walked through His greatest persecution the very week
>they are stealing your property from you.� My own (less blasphemous) view
>was that, yes, Trump was being singled out for harsh punishment by Judge
>Engoron, but that this was appropriate because Trump insists on making
>himself an exception to every rule. When finally matters escalate and
Trump
>is called to account, he always whines that he�s being treated worse than
>others. It�s no more unusual to fine Trump $454 million than it is to send
>the FBI to collect documents that Trump refused to turn over to the
>National Archives. Such actions don�t occur in a vacuum. Trump makes them
>happen.
>
>In a press conference after the stay, Trump continued to attack Engoron
and
>James, but he had kind words for the appeals panel. �We were gratified by
>the professionalism of the opinion today,� Trump said. He also seemed to
>suggest that he might put up the $175 million in cash. �I have a lot of
>cash,� he said, and �I don�t need to borrow money.� But Trump hedged his
>bets in a post on Truth Social, saying, �We will abide by the decision of
>the Appellate Division, and post either a bond, equivalent securities, or
>cash.�
>
>I�ll be very surprised if Trump puts up his own cash, not least because
the
>amount may represent as much as half of his liquid holdings. More likely
>he�ll go back to his bond brokers. I asked Mark Levinson, a bond broker
>with Brunswick Companies (and my new best friend) about the revised $175
>million target. �That�s still a very large number,� Levinson said, for a
>private appeal bond (as opposed to an appeal bond for a publicly traded
>company). But it�s �probably manageable� for Trump, Levinson said. �I�d be
>surprised if he didn�t get it.�
>
>But Levinson presumes a degree of rationality in Trump that may not exist.
>Trump may or may not have $175 million in securities above and beyond the
>$91 million in a Schwab brokerage account that he reportedly used to
>collateralize a bond backed by Chubb in the E. Jean Carroll case. We know
>Trump has a lot of equity in Truth Social, which he just took public, but
>he�s barred for six months from using that as collateral. And even if
Trump
>possesses additional liquid investments, he�ll be reluctant to put them up
>as collateral for the same reason that surety firms prefer collateral in
>the form of cash and securities to collateral in the form of real estate:
>It�s much easier to grab in the event that Trump loses his appeal. Which,
>let�s face it, is likelier than not.
>
>What surety firm would step forward to cover a $175 million bond for
Trump?
>Levinson told me he thinks it will be Chubb. We know (from Trump�s legal
>team) that Chubb tried very hard to put together a deal on the $454
>million, finally giving up because the deal depended on using real estate
>as collateral. But we also know that Chubb caught a lot of flak for
>underwriting Trump�s $91 million Carroll bond, and that Chubb�s chief
>executive, Evan Greenberg, ended up writing a letter to investors and
>employees explaining why it would lend that much money to a man so very
>famous for stiffing his creditors. Greenberg�s rationale was not very
>clear, raising suspicions that he expects some unsavory return from a
>future President Trump. Does Greenberg want to invite even more inquiries
>into Chubb�s possible motives?
>
>At the press conference, Trump seemed not to have given up on the idea
that
>his real estate holdings could be used as collateral on the $175 million.
>�Most buildings, I have no debt,� Trump said. �Most clubs, I have no
debt.�
>As with many things that Trump says, any relationship these assertions
bear
>to the truth would be mere coincidence. Trump also went on about the value
>of his �brand,� even going so far as to assert that �I became president
>because of the brand.� Was Trump trying to suggest that the Oval Office
>might be leveraged to compensate whatever fool lends him $175 million?
>Possibly so. In the meantime, New York�s appeals court sets Trump up for
>possible humiliation three days after Easter. Robbed of his crown of
>thorns, Trump still may not come up with the cash. If that happens, he
>won�t be the Messiah. Just a deadbeat.