The judge who awarded half a billion dollars to the state of New York in the civil fraud suit brought against President Trump has ordered that the Trump Organization must report any financial transactions, including any “efforts to secure surety bonds” and “the merger or consolidation of Trust entities,” to court-appointed monitors. 

The order comes as Mr. Trump is scrambling to meet a Monday deadline to post an enormous bond before New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, moves to seize some of his prized real estate assets. It also comes as Mr. Trump’s Truth Social merger is approved and heads for the stock market, with a potential multibillion-dollar upside for Mr. Trump.  

“So one Corrupt, Radical Left Judge in New York, a Trump hater at the highest level,” Mr. Trump posted on his Truth Social media platform on Friday, lamenting that the Manhattan supreme court judge, Arthur Engoron, can “confiscate New York property from me that took a lifetime of hard work to accumulate and build? It sounds like COMMUNISM to me! THERE SHOULD BE NO FINE, I DID NOTHING WRONG.”

“The Trump Organization shall inform the Monitor, in advance, of any efforts to secure surety bonds,” Judge Engoron wrote in his order on Thursday, “including financial information requested or required … in connection with securing such bonds,” and “any personal guarantees made by any of the Defendants,” which would include the former president.

In his February decision, the judge ruled that the court-appointed monitor, whom he first installed in November 2022, shall continue her supervision of the Trump Organization for another three years. Judge Engoron further directed the monitor, Barbara Jones, who is a former judge herself, to hire an “Independent Director of Compliance” to oversee the “accounting and financial reporting” of the businesses. 

While Mr. Trump is under extreme pressure to secure the bond for half a billion dollars by Monday or risk losing some of his assets, Judge Engoron reminded the former president on Thursday that he must disclose any such attempts to the court-appointed monitors. 

Defense attorneys asked an appeals court on Monday to pause the enforcement of the judgment, writing that securing the “excessive and unconstitutional” bond was “practically impossible.” Mr. Trump commented on his Truth Social media platform that selling his properties in a “fire sale” to come up with the money, while he appeals the verdict, would cause him irreparable harm.

If he were to win the appeal, his attorneys also argued, he would not be able to recover his properties at the prices at which he purchased them decades ago. A senior assistant solicitor in the New York attorney general’s office, Dennis Fan, filed a response on Wednesday, telling the appeals court that Mr. Trump may be continuing to dissemble about the value of his holdings. 

“As far as the Court can infer, sureties may have refused to accept defendants’ specific holdings as collateral because using Mr. Trump’s real estate will generally need ‘a property appraisal’ and his holdings are not nearly as valuable as defendants claim,” Mr. Fan wrote.

A source close to Mr. Trump’s legal team told the Sun that a decision from the appeals court is expected by Friday, “It could come over the weekend, though this is less likely.”