In A New York Minute

Trump enraged as he faces financial devastation from civil losses: reporter Maggie Habermanhttps://t.co/XsBHgCeVMR

— Raw Story (@RawStory) January 30, 2024

“As you know, the jury awarded Carroll more than $83 million, and it's only one of several legal battles facing him," said Blitzer. "The Trump Organization, for instance, could soon be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars. What kind of impact is this judgment, and the potential for more, having on Trump?" 

"Trump never likes parting with money, and so there is no way he's happy at the moment, either about the E. Jean Carroll verdict, or the fact that he is going to have to pay some penalty in the civil fraud trial," said Haberman. "Exactly what it means for his company and personal finances, we don't know, but it doesn't mean anything good. This is a lot of liquid, a lot of question about how much cash on hand Trump actually has." 

"He may not have to pay both right away," Haberman added. "With Carroll, he will have to put something up while he's appealing, but it will be costly."

"Right away” is a relative term. If Trump files an appeal bond within thirty days of the judgment (separate from the verdict; the former is an official court order), execution is suspended. But execution can take place 30 days after judgment is entered (it probably already has been), if no bond is filed. So “right away” is coming up pretty fast.

As for the penalties: the judgment carries a 9% interest rate, from the date of verdict. Robbie Kaplan has said that sets the appeal bond at about $90 million. Trump has two ways to pay such a bond: cash, or 10-20% down (depending on the lender), the remainder in collateral.

Now, Trump is the self-proclaimed “King of Debt.” Which means he is heavily leveraged. Which means any bond company would be second or third in line on any collateral. Which probably explains, as Ms. Haberman previously reported, why Trump had to pay $5 million into escrow to appeal the prior Carroll judgment. IOW, he couldn’t get a bond.

So how does he get a bond on $90 million?

The NY fraud judgment is expected to be somewhere between $270 million and $390 million. Add 9% (interest) to either of those figures, and ask again: where’s the money? Trump couldn’t borrow $5 million; how does he borrow almost $500 million? Even if he does have $400 million cash on hand, he’s $100 million short.

He’s gonna have to pay those judgments pretty damned quick. Maybe not in a New York minute; but that won’t mean much, either.