Trump unable to finance an appeal bond for at least $450 million, lawyers say. (WaPo)

What Ululating Unhinged Lawbreaking Impecunious Old Oaf Political Prostitute (UULIOOPP) is unable to post an appeal bond?   No surety wants to accept his property as collateral.  Some 30 companies have turned him down. Wonder why?   From The Washington Post and The New York Times:

Trump unable to finance an appeal bond for at least $450 million, lawyers say

By Shayna Jacobs

 and 

Jonathan O'Connell

Updated March 18, 2024 at 11:57 a.m. EDT|Published March 18, 2024 at 11:44 a.m. EDT

Donald Trump addresses a crowd at a rally in Rome, Ga., March 9, 2024. (David Walter Banks/For The Washington Post)

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NEW YORK — Donald Trump has been unable to finance an appeal bond for at least $450 million to cover a judgment in the New York attorney general’s business fraud case against him and is seeking a reprieve from an appellate court to keep the state from seizing assets, according to a court filing Monday.

The former president’s lawyers said in the filing that Trump and the Trump Organization, the real estate hospitality and golf resort company he solely owns, have been unable to get a surety company to accept property as collateral — stalling any efforts to obtain a bond that is due to be posted in a week.

“Critical among these challenges is not just the inability and reluctance of the vast majority of sureties to underwrite a bond for this unprecedented sum, but, even more significantly, the unwillingness of every surety bond provider approached by Defendants to accept real estate as collateral,” Trump’s attorneys wrote.

The legal team behind the Trump, a Republican campaigning against President Biden in the 2024 election, recently failed to get an emergency appeals judge to put off the 30-day deadline that the attorney general has imposed to give the company time to fulfill its appeal bond obligation. That judge also rejected an offer of a $100 million bond in lieu of the full amount. A full panel will soon examine the same issues.

Trump, his company and several current and former executives were found civilly liable in Manhattan state court this year for engaging in illegal acts to defraud banks and insurance companies by lying about the true value of his assets to falsely obtain profits and savings in business over a decade.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the case, said Trump misstated the value of his properties and other assets by up to $2.2 billion a year from 2011 to 2021.

This breaking news report will be updated.

Donald J. Trump’s filing one week before the bond is due raised the prospect that the former president might now face a financial crisis.Credit...Maansi Srivastava/The New York Times

Trump Spurned by 30 Companies as He Seeks Bond in $454 Million Judgment

Donald J. Trump’s lawyers said in a court filing that he faces “insurmountable difficulties” as he tries to raise cash for the civil fraud penalty he faces in New York.

Donald J. Trump’s lawyers disclosed on Monday that he had failed to secure a roughly half-billion dollar bond in his civil fraud case in New York, arguing that doing so was “a practical impossibility.”

The filing, coming one week before the bond is due, raised the prospect that the former president might face a financial crisisunless an appeals court comes to his rescue. Mr. Trump has asked the appeals court to pause the $454 million judgment that a New York judge imposed on Mr. Trump last month, or accept a bond of only $100 million.

The former president has been unable to secure the full bond, his lawyers said in the court filing on Monday, despite “diligent efforts.” Those efforts included approaching about 30 companies, and yet, they said, he has encountered “insurmountable difficulties.”

The judge in the civil fraud case, Arthur F. Engoron, levied the penalty and other punishments on Mr. Trump after concluding that he had fraudulently inflated his net worth to obtain favorable loans and other benefits. The case, brought by the New York attorney general, Letitia James, has posed a grave financial threat to Mr. Trump.

He must post an appeal bond in excess of that amount — possibly more than $500 million to reflect the interest he will owe — to prevent Ms. James from seizing his assets on March 25.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Ben Protess is an investigative reporter at The Times, writing about public corruption. He has been covering the various criminal investigations into former President Trump and his allies. More about Ben Protess