Trump owes $454 million for fraud. Can he pay it?

The former president is appealing a penalty after a court ruled that he lied for years about the value of his assets.

DONALD TRUMP IS up against a fast-approaching deadline to secure a half-billion dollar bond as he appeals a financial fraud case, facing possible bankruptcy or his assets being seized if he fails.

The former US president is appealing his $355 million penalty, plus interest, after a New York court ruled that he, his sons and his Trump Organization company lied for years about the value of his assets, deceiving banks and insurers.

He is required to put up a guarantee that he will pay the fine if his appeal fails.

Trump built a public profile as a property developer and businessman in New York before entering politics.

Despite his $2.6 billion net worth, his lawyers say that it’s been impossible so far to come up with the $454 million bond, which is due on Monday.

Typically, such bonds would be underwritten by an insurer or specialised bond company.

However, Trump’s lawyers say that after approaching 30 such companies, none will take the ex-president’s real estate holdings as collateral, creating a “practical impossibility” to get a bond, the lawyers wrote in court filings.

If Trump cannot pay, “he confronts the prospect of humiliation and serious financial harm,” Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, told AFP.

Multiple appeals are ongoing by the ex-president, including one at the New York Supreme Court.

The 30-day grace period to put up the money is due to expire on Monday, raising the prospect that unless courts intervene or the New York attorney general gives him more time, Trump might need to “sell his properties or related assets, attempt to secure a bank loan, or even declare bankruptcy”, Tobias said.

Yet even bankruptcy wouldn’t stop authorities from claiming Trump’s money, with the Attorney General Letitia James able to freeze his accounts or even seize certain properties related to the case, he said.

In a post on social media, Trump said: “I would be forced to mortgage or sell great assets, perhaps at fire sale prices, and if and when I win the appeal, they would be gone.”

“Election interference!” he charged in another post, while also calling the New York Attorney General, who is a Democrat, “corrupt and racist.”

Last month, Trump offered a $100 million bond to partially cover him as he appealed, which was rejected by a New York Supreme Court Appellate Division judge.

As part of the fraud ruling, Trump was also banned from running businesses in New York state for three years.

He was barred from seeking loans from institutions based in New York, though a judge has lifted that part of the ruling as Trump seeks to secure his bond.