Former US President Donald Trump posted a security deposit of $175 million (163 million euros) on Monday (local time) in a civil case for business fraud to prevent seizures of assets. This emerges from a published court document. Trump had appealed the business fraud conviction and had until Thursday to post the security deposit, which is equivalent to a bail, covered by a California insurance company.
In the civil case for business fraud, Trump and his sons were found guilty of artificially inflating the assets of their real estate empire over the years in order to obtain favorable conditions from banks and insurance companies. Trump was therefore sentenced in February to a fine of around $355 million plus interest, which totaled around $454 million.
Trump, who wants to run for the Republicans again in the presidential election in November, appealed against the verdict and therefore did not have to pay the fine for the time being. However, he had to provide security so that an appeal process could take place.
Trump was originally given a bail amount of $454 million. However, his lawyers said last month that the billionaire was unable to do so. The background is that most of Trump's assets are tied up in real estate and are not immediately available to him in cash.
An appeals court in New York then significantly reduced the security required to be provided to $175 million. “I deeply respect the court's decision and will deposit the $175 million in cash, bonds or surety,” Trump said at the time.
Trump has had difficulties with the judiciary in several cases. He is facing criminal charges in four cases, including his attempts to subsequently overturn his election defeat against incumbent President Joe Biden of the Democrats.
A criminal case involves the alleged falsification of business documents to disguise a hush money payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels. In the trial, the responsible New York judge Juan Merchan ordered a limited speech ban against the ex-president last week. Accordingly, Trump is prohibited from publicly commenting on witnesses, prosecutors, court employees, their families or jurors.
It was imposed after Trump had previously insulted Judge Merchan and his daughter in numerous posts on his online platform Truth Social. On Monday, the judge extended the ban to his family and that of the public prosecutor. The trial begins on April 15 and has a historical dimension: it is the first criminal trial against an ex-president in US history.
Trump is relying on delaying tactics in his legal disputes in order to postpone verdicts if possible until after the presidential election in November, in which he is expected to run again for the Republicans against the Democrat Biden.
