World’s poorest billionaire wants to give a big IOU to the state of New York
By 
Well well well . . .
Donald Trump is unable to post a full bond while he appeals a $454.2 million judgment that a judge imposed in New York state’s civil fraud case against him, and wants instead to secure a $100 million bond, his lawyers said on Wednesday.
Trump is appealing a Feb. 16 decision by Justice Arthur Engoron of the state court in Manhattan, which includes a three-year ban from serving in a top role at any New York company, or seeking loans from banks registered in the state.
Letitia James, the state’s attorney general, sued Trump, the Trump Organization and other defendants in 2022, accusing them of overstating the value of Trump’s properties to inflate his net worth and obtain better loan and insurance terms.
In a filing with the Appellate Division, a mid-level appeals court, Trump’s lawyers asked to temporarily stay the judgment during his appeal, saying he would suffer “irreparable harm” if James were free to sell his real estate assets to raise capital.
The lawyers also said the “exorbitant and punitive amount of the judgment coupled with an unlawful and unconstitutional blanket prohibition on lending transactions would make it impossible to secure and post a complete bond.”
In a separate filing, James opposed a stay, calling it “especially inappropriate” given the defendants “all but concede” that Trump does not have enough liquid assets to satisfy the judgment.
“These are precisely the circumstances for which a full bond or deposit is necessary, where defendants’ approach would leave (the attorney general’s office) with substantial shortfalls once this court affirms the judgment,” she wrote.
We read Patrick Radden Keefe’s Empire of Pain for my criminal punishment seminar this week, and I tried to impress on the youth of Athens that Keefe was telling a very much glass half full/empty story when it came to the legal system. The Sacklers got away with it, sort of, but in another sense they actually paid a real price, not just in terms of billions of dollars of liability, but in terms of having their precious family name, which they had spent several fortunes on enhancing in the public eye, permanently trashed.
Sometimes it’s good for even the most cynical observer to be reminded that our legal system does sort of work, sometimes, even when it comes to the great and the good in our midst.