Trump secures $175 million bond in New York civil fraud case

(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants have secured a $175 million bond in their New York civil fraud case, according to a court filing.

Trump secured the bond through Knight Specialty Insurance Company, which is owned by the privately-held Hankey Group, whose chairman told ABC News that he considers himself a Donald Trump supporter.

“This is what we do at Knight Insurance, and we’re happy to be able to accommodate the ex-president in this situation,” Don Hankey told ABC News. “I’d say it’s more of a business decision, but I happen to be a supporter also.”

Hankey said his company was initially involved in talks to underwrite the original $464 million bond in the case — then when a New York appellate court last week reduced the amount to $175 million, Hankey said his company renewed their effort to underwrite the bond.

“It was a relatively low number, and Donald Trump put up all the collateral in cash,” Hankey said.

Hankey could not recall if Trump also used bonds as collateral for the finalized bond, noting that his company reviewed some of the former president’s bonds, which he said were as “grade-A bonds, investment grade quality securities.”

“We’re confident that we have very good collateral,” Hankey said.

Hankey told ABC News that he has contributed to the former president’s campaign but could not recall the amount he donated.

An official with the New York attorney general’s office declined to comment to ABC News.

“As promised, President Trump has posted bond,” his attorney Alina Habba said in a statement Monday evening. “He looks forward to vindicating his rights on appeal and overturning this unjust verdict.”

Last week, a panel of judges from New York’s Appellate Division granted the former president, his adult sons, and two former Trump Organization executives a 10-day stay of the $464 million judgment in their civil fraud case and permitted them to post a reduced bond of $175 million.

Trump’s lawyers had argued that the former president lacked the cash to secure a bond for the full judgment after being rejected by more than 30 bond companies.

Without intervention from an appeals court, defense lawyers argued that Trump would suffer irreparable harm by having to sell off his namesake properties before he exhausted his appeal of the fraud ruling.

In February, following a three-month trial, Judge Arthur Engoron fined Trump and his co-defendants after finding they had engaged in a decade of business fraud by falsely inflating the former president’s net worth to get better loans and business deals.

“The frauds found here leap off the page and shock the conscience,” Engoron wrote.

Trump has denied all wrongdoing and his lawyers have appealed the ruling in the case, arguing that the disgorgement amount was unconstitutional, disproportionate, and flawed. Defense lawyers argue that Judge Engoron misapplied the statute of limitations for Trump’s conduct and that New York Attorney General Letitia James failed to prove Trump’s misrepresentations were relevant to the former president’s lenders.

“There is no evidence, and no finding by Supreme Court, that the relevant lenders and insurers would not have given Defendants loans and policies on the same terms in the absence of the supposed ‘misrepresentations,'” defense lawyers said in a March filing.

If their appeal fails, the former president and his co-defendants will be on the hook for the entire $464 million judgment.

If Trump does not have the cash to cover the full judgment and his appeal is unsuccessful, James could enforce the judgment by seizing Trump’s assets.

“If he does not have funds to pay off the judgment, then we will seek judgment enforcement mechanisms in court, and we will ask the judge to seize his assets,” James said in a recent interview with ABC News. “We are prepared to make sure that the judgment is paid to New Yorkers.”

In the defamation suit brought against Trump by the writer E. Jean Carroll, Trump secured a $92 million bond through insurance company Chubb after a jury in January found him liable for defaming her. Trump, who has denied all wrongdoing, has filed a notice of appeal in that case.

The former president used a brokerage account as collateral for that bond.

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