Just days after Donald Trump posted the reduced bond in his appeal of New York’s civil fraud judgment, Attorney General Letitia James filed a challenge questioning the qualifications of the California-based underwriter, the New York Times reported.
Attorneys for the former president asked a New York appeals court to reduce the amount of the bond after multiple underwriters refused to accept anything but cash or cash equivalents as collateral.
A New York appellate court in late March agreed to delay collection on the $454 million judgment if Trump could post a $175 million bond within ten days.
Trump attorney Alina Habba said in an April 1 statement that the lower bond amount had been posted and that Trump was “looking forward to vindicating his rights on appeal.”
Trump confirmed that the bond was posted in a Truth Social post later that night. The former president bemoaned that it was $175 million that he would not be able to use in his presidential campaign, something he claimed was what Joe Biden had planned all along.
However, on April 4, the Attorney General’s office filed a “notice of exception to the sufficiency of the surety,” giving the defense ten days to provide additional information proving that the underwriter could make good on the bond since Knight Specialty Insurance Company is not regulated by New York State.
In an emailed statement to the Associated Press, Trump attorney Christopher Kise described the challenge as “another witch hunt” and accused Attorney General James of trying to start a “baseless public quarrel” as a way to “regain relevance” after the appellate court reduced the bond.
A hearing on the matter was scheduled for April 22.
The $175 bond is not an actual cash transfer in the amount required. Instead, in posting the bond, the underwriter essentially promises the court that if a defendant loses an appeal and fails to pay, the underwriter would cover the amount of the bond.
