As Trump’s $454 million fraud judgment deadline looms, son Eric gripes ‘they want to bankrupt him’

Donald
Trump
faces
the
severe
risk
that

New
York‘s
attorney
general
will
begin
trying
to
collect
a
$454
million
civil
business
fraud
judgment
against
him
on
Monday
unless
an
appeals
court
gives
the
former

president
a
last-minute
reprieve.

Trump’s
son
Eric,
a
co-defendant
in
the
fraud
case,
accused
Attorney
General

Letitia
James
on
Sunday
of
trying
to
bankrupt
his
father
with
the
judgment.

Donald
Trump’s
lawyers
have
said
he
is
unable
to
pay
for
an

appeal
bond
that
would
prevent
the
AG
from
collecting
the
judgment
as
he
seeks
to
overturn
the
fraud
verdict
—
and
James
told
an
appeals
court
last
week
that
it
should
reject
his
request
to
pause
the
judgment
from
taking
effect.

“They’re
trying
to
deprive
him
of
his
cash,
they
want
to
bankrupt
him,
they
want
to
hurt
him
so
badly,”
Eric
Trump
told
Fox
News
in
an
interview.

“And
it’s
going
to
backfire,
because
he’s
going
to
win
this
in
November,
and
everybody
in
this
country
universally
knows
exactly
what
these
people
are
doing,”
Eric
said.

Eric
also
said, “No
one’s
ever
seen
a
bond
this
size.”

“Every
single
person
when
I
came
to
them
saying ‘Hey,
can
I
get
a
half-billion
dollar
bond?’
…
[T]hey
were
laughing.
They
were
laughing,”
Eric
said.

Eric’s
complaint
came
days
after
news
that
James’s
office
had
registered
the
massive
fraud
judgment
with
the
Westchester
County,
New
York,
county
clerk’s
office.
Registration
is
required
if
James
is
to
move
to
seize
Trump’s
golf
course
and
Seven
Springs
estate
in
that
county
to
partially
satisfy
the
judgment.

Donald
Trump,
the
presumptive
Republican
presidential
nominee,
Eric,
and
his
other
adult
son,
Donald
Trump
Jr.,
were
found
liable
for
fraud
at
the
Trump
Organization
along
with
the
company
itself
and
two
executives
after
a
trial
in
Manhattan
Supreme
Court.
James’s
office
was
the
plaintiff
in
the
case.

Last
month,
Judge
Arthur
Engoron
found
that
the
defendants
had
fraudulently
inflated
the
stated
value
of
Trump’s
assets
to
increase
his
purported
net
worth
and
obtain
more
favorable
loan
terms
for
Trump
Organization
properties.
Donald
Trump
Jr.
and
Eric
Trump
have
run
their
father’s
company
since
he
was
elected
president
in
2016.

The
elder
Trump
is
responsible
for
most
of
the
$464
million
in
disgorgement
and
interest
that
Engoron
ordered
as
damages
in
the
case.
However,
the
Trump
sons
were
each
ordered
to
pay
$4
million.

Donald
Trump
asked
a
mid-level
appeal
court
last
week
to
pause
the
judgment,
with
his
lawyers
saying
it
has
proved “impossible”
for
him
to
obtain
an
appeal
bond.

Such
a
bond
would
guarantee
that
the
state
would
receive
the
judgment
if
Trump
loses
his
appeal
of
the
case
and
is
otherwise
unable
to
satisfy
it.

Trump’s
lawyers
said
that
surety
companies
wanted
him
to
have
upwards
of
$1
billion
in
cash
or
equivalents
before
they
would
consider
underwriting
an
appeal
bond
in
this
case.

The
lawyers
said
in
a
court
filing
that
the
more
than
30
companies
he
approached
about
obtaining
a
bond
refused
to
accept
real
estate
as
collateral.

If
the
appeals
court
does
not
grant
Trump
a
temporary
waiver
of
the
judgment,
he
could
ask
the
state’s
highest
court,
the
Court
of
Appeals,
to
give
him
one.
However,
it
is
not
clear
that
Trump
would
have
much
success
at
that
level.

Monday
is
the
first
day
James
can
begin
the
process
of
seizing
Trump
properties
to
satisfy
the
judgment
without
a
court
order
blocking
her
from
doing
so.

Losers
in
New
York
civil
cases
must
routinely
post
an
appeal
bond
or
be
liable
for
the
judgments
against
them
as
they
appeal
a
verdict.