Reprieve for Trump as Appeals Court Pauses Collection of $454 Million Fraud Judgment — if He Pays $175 Million

A New York appeals court on Monday agreed to hold off collection of President Trump’s $454 million civil fraud judgment — if he puts up $175 million within 10 days.If he does, it will stop the clock on collection and prevent the state from seizing the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s assets while he appeals.The development came just before Attorney General Letitia James was expected to initiate efforts to collect the judgment.Messages seeking comment were sent to General James’ office and to Mr. Trump’s lawyers.The GOP front-runner’s lawyers had pleaded for a state appeals court to halt collection, claiming it was “a practical impossibility” to get an underwriter to sign off on a bond for such a large sum.The ruling was issued by the state’s intermediate appeals court, the Appellate Division of the state’s trial court, where Mr. Trump is fighting to overturn a judge’s February 16 finding that he lied about his wealth as he grew the real estate empire that launched him to stardom and the presidency.After General James won the judgment, she didn’t seek to enforce it during a legal time-out for Mr. Trump to ask the appeals court for a reprieve from paying up.That period ended Monday, though Ms. James could have decided to allow Mr. Trump more time.Ms. James, a Democrat, told ABC News last month that if Mr. Trump doesn’t have the money to pay, she would seek to seize his assets and was “prepared to make sure that the judgment is paid.”She didn’t detail the process or specify what holdings she meant, and her office has declined more recently to discuss its plans. Meanwhile, it has filed notice of the judgment, a technical step toward potentially moving to collect.As Mr. Trump arrived Monday at a different New York court for a separate hearing in his criminal hush money case, he didn’t respond to a journalist’s question about whether he’d obtained a bond. Earlier Monday, he railed in social media posts against the civil judgment and the possibility that General James would seek to enforce it.Casting the case as a plot by Democrats, the ex-president asserted that they were trying to take his cash to starve his 2024 campaign.“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 exclaimed on his Truth Social platform. Referring to his properties as “my ‘babies,’” he bristled at the idea of being forced to sell them or seeing them seized.

Reprieve for Trump as Appeals Court Pauses Collection of $454 Million Fraud Judgment — if He Pays $175 Million

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