Former President Donald Trump’s fine for fraudulent lending increased from $355 million to more than $450 million. This is because former President Trump, who announced his intention to appeal, was trying to raise money to deposit the fine, and interest for delay before the ruling was added.
According to the final ruling entered by Judge Arthur Engoron of the Manhattan District Court in New York on the 23rd, former President Trump’s fine increased to at least $454 million, Washington Post (WP), ABC News outlets reported on the 25th.
Reuters reported that this is the existing fine ($355 million) plus interest accrued during the three-month trial. The fines for former President Trump’s eldest son, Trump Jr., and his second son, Eric, also increased from $4 million to $4.7 million (including interest) each.
The interest on all fines, including former President Trump’s, is $114,000 per day, most of which is interest on former President Trump’s fines. This amount continues to accumulate until the fine is paid or deposited. Former President Trump can appeal the ruling within 30 days from the date the final ruling was issued, but to do so, he must deposit the amount equivalent to the fine through cash or bonds.
Separately, former President Trump must pay $83.3 million in damages for defamation to fashion columnist E. Jean Carroll, according to a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. This also requires a deposit for appeal. Since most of former President Trump’s assets are tied up in real estate, it is unclear whether he has enough cash for deposit.
In this regard, former President Trump’s lawyer is negotiating with surety companies to provide as few assets as collateral as possible, WP reported. Furthermore, the newspaper reported that former President Trump’s team is considering a plan to share the risk by dividing the fine between several bond companies because the size of the fine is so large.
Guarantee companies that issue bonds required for deposit usually require cash or assets from customers as collateral. However, in the case of former President Trump, there is a risk in using real estate as collateral from the guaranteed company’s perspective. This is because assessing the value of assets may be difficult in a situation where former President Trump was fined for inflating the value of assets.
In addition, former President Trump may need to maintain a certain amount of cash and assets to maintain existing loans, he said, WP said. Although the current loan terms are not known, in the case of former President Trump’s past loan from Deutsche Bank, it was stipulated that if the loan failed to maintain liquidity of $50 million and net assets of more than $2.5 billion, it would be in default.