According to a court document, former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants have posted a $175 million bond in their New York civil fraud lawsuit.
Trump obtained the bond from 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 fan.
“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 said in an interview with 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 in talks to underwrite the case’s original $464 million bond; however, after a New York appeal court cut the sum to $175 million last week, Hankey said his company continued its efforts to cover the bond.
“It was a relatively low number, and Donald Trump put up all the collateral in cash,” he claimed.
Hankey was unable to recall whether Trump also used bonds as collateral for the finished bond, but did state that his company assessed some of the former president’s bonds, which he described as “grade-A bonds, investment grade quality securities.”
“We’re confident that we have very good collateral,” he said.
Hankey told ABC News that he contributed to the former president’s campaign but couldn’t remember how much he gave.
An official from the New York Attorney General’s Office declined to respond to ABC News.
“As promised, President Trump has posted bond,” his attorney Alina Habba said in a statement on Monday evening. “He looks forward to vindicating his rights on appeal and overturning this unjust verdict.”
Last Monday, a panel of justices from New York’s Appellate Division allowed the former president, his adult sons, and two former Trump Organization executives a 10-day stay of the $464 million civil fraud judgment, allowing them to deposit a reduced bail of $175 million.
Following rejection by more than 30 bond agencies, Trump’s lawyers claimed that the former president lacked the funds to secure a bond for the full judgment.
Without the assistance of an appeals court, defense counsel contended that Trump would suffer irreparable loss if forced to sell off his namesake businesses before exhausting his appeal of the fraud ruling.
Following a three-month trial, Judge Arthur Engoron penalized Trump and his co-defendants in February after determining that they committed a decade of corporate fraud by illegally exaggerating the former president’s net worth in order to secure better loans and commercial transactions.
“The frauds found here leap off the page and shock the conscience,” he added.
Trump has denied all wrongdoing, and his lawyers have challenged the verdict, claiming that the disgorgement sum was illegal, disproportionate, and faulty. Defense lawyers claim that Judge Engoron misapplied the statute of limitations for Trump’s actions and that New York Attorney General Letitia James failed to demonstrate that Trump’s misrepresentations were significant 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,'” the attorneys for the defense stated in a March filing.
If their appeal fails, the former president and his co-defendants will be liable for the entire $464 million award.
If Trump does not have the funds to pay the full judgment and his appeal is denied, James may enforce the judgment by seizing Trump’s assets.
“If he does not have the 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 stated in a recent interview. “We are prepared to make sure that the judgment is paid to New Yorkers.”
In the defamation claim brought against Trump by writer E. Jean Carroll, Trump obtained a $92 million bail from insurance company Chubb after a jury found him responsible in January for defaming her. Trump has filed a notice of appeal in that case, denying any misconduct.
The previous president pledged a brokerage account as collateral for the bond.