D-Day for Donald: Trump faces deadline today to pay $464m fraud bond. Here’s what you need to know

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Donald Trump is facing a potentially huge day of legal drama today as the deadline to post bond for his $464m fraud judgement looms and an important hearing is held regarding his imminent hush money trial.

Judge Arthur Engoron ruled last month that the Republican presidential candidate must pay $354m in fines and a further $110m plus in interest ($464m, all in) over a decade-long scheme where he inflated the value of Trump Organization assets in order to obtain favourable loans from banks and insurers.

With interest ticking ever-upwards at 9 per cent or $120,000 a day, the exact total he owes as of deadline day is now closer to $468.1m – but his lawyers have argued that he has been unable to find a bond company willing to stump up the cash.

Fail to make the bond today and New York Attorney General Letitia James could begin seizing the former president’s assets, including some of his prized property empire.

Here’s what could happen today:

What are Donald Trump’s options? Pay bond, appeal or bankruptcy

Mr Trump – who is battling four criminal cases in Washington DC, New York, Georgia and Florida while simultaneously campaigning for the presidency, chewing up an estimated $230,000 per day in legal expenses – has a deadline of today to post bond in the case.

One option would be that he finds a surety company willing to post almost half a billion dollars on his behalf, for a fee, in order to cover the judgement in the event that he should he fail to win his pending appeal. But his attorneys have already revealed that they approached more than 30 companies – and have been turned down.

The presidential candidate was able to secure a $91.6m bond earlier this month to appeal the defamation verdict against him in the unrelated E Jean Carroll case through the Federal Insurance Company, a subsidiary of the Chubb Corporation, whose CEO was appointed to a trade advisory committee during the Trump administration. Support from another wealthy ally or group of allies would come in very handy indeed right about now.

Alternatively, Mr Trump could stump up the cash himself and pay the judgement. He claimed on Truth Social on Sunday night that he does have the cash in his account – but that he is planning to use it for his presidential campaign.

The amount of his available cash on hand remains up for debate. He is likely to receive a $3bn windfall soon as his Truth Social platform hits Wall Street as soon as Monday, although he is prohibited from selling his interest in the venture for six months from it going public.

Another option would be that he simply does nothing, but that an appeals court agrees to pause the judgement while his appeal plays out or accept a smaller amount (his first offer of $100m has already been rejected). That court is not expected to rule today but could do so later this week.

Mr Trump’s other options include filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, although that step would not rid him of debts accrued through fraud and definitively undermine his claims to be a billionaire businessman and therefore, potentially, his electoral appeal.

What are Letitia James’s options? Seize property or bank accounts

Should Mr Trump come up short today, Ms James has the authority to begin seizing his assets, including some of his properties, with a view to selling them on to make up the total owed.

The state attorney general had the power under New York to enforce the judgement as soon as it was issued in February but Mr Trump was granted a 30-day grace period, which is now about to expire.

Should she seek to seize his bank accounts, the process will first involve her sending out restraining notices to banks and brokerage firms ordering the freezing of his accounts. She would also need a court order to be able to accesss the money.

Ms James could also seize his property including his namesake Trump Tower.

Her office has already started taking steps toward recovering some of the former president’s assets. In filings dated 7 March, her office entered the judgement with the county clerk’s office in New York’s Westchester County – home to Mr Trump’s Seven Springs estate and his Trump National Golf Club Westchester. Entering a judgement indicates that her office is beginning the process of taking possession of Mr Trump’s properties.

What has each side said about the fraud case?

Mr Trump has repeatedly railed against Ms James and Judge Engoron on Truth Social, denying any wrongdoing and baselessly claiming the case against him is a “witch hunt” being orchestrated by his enemies.

In a rant on the eve of the bond deadline, he fumed in a post on his platform that: “I HAVE DONE NOTHING WRONG!”

“These Radical Left Lunatics and Communists ask me to pay a ridiculous and completely unheard of fine of over $450,000,000 only because they saw a similar amount in my bank account. I had intended to use much of that hard earned money on running for President. They don’t want me to do that – ELECTION INTERFERENCE!” he said.

For her part, Ms James has said she is more than happy to begin repossessing Mr Trump’s properties.

“If he does not have funds to pay off the judgement, then we will seek judgement enforcement mechanisms in court and we will ask the judge to seize his assets,” she told ABC News recently.

“We are prepared to make sure that the judgement is paid to New Yorkers, and yes, I look at 40 Wall Street each and every day.”

How did Trump end up here?

Ms James first brought her civil case against the Trump Organization in September 2022, suing Donald Trump, his three oldest children Donald Trump Jr, Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump (who was later excluded), former chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, former controller Jeffrey McConney and ten related companies alleging that they had engaged in financial fraud by habitually misrepresenting their property values to potential lenders and tax officials for monetary gain.

Judge Engoron duly presided over an 11-week jury trial between October and December after which the defendants were found liable for fraud and ordered to disgorge their ill-gotten gains.

The judge issued a 92-page ruling on 16 February siding with Ms James in which he found that the “defendants failed to accept responsibility or to impose internal controls to prevent future recurrences” and accused them of having “submitted blatantly false financial data” so as to “borrow more and at lower rates”.

In addition to ordering the massive repayment, he barred Mr Trump from running a business in New York for three years and his sons for two years.