Donald Trump’s penalties in the New York civil fraud case for manipulating the value of his properties to obtain advantageous loan and insurance rates were formally set at more than $454m on Friday.
The judgment, which includes $354m in penalties plus $100m in pre-judgement interest following the three-month, non-jury trial that concluded on 16 February, will continue to accrue interest if the former president fails to pay.
Trump has two options to meet the state’s demand: to pay the amount in full, or secure a $35m bond against his assets, which might include the Fifth Avenue Trump Tower, 40 Wall Street, his Mar-a-Lago estate, or a number of golf courses in the US.
In the finalized ruling Judge Arthur Engoron also ordered Trump’s adult sons, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, to each pay nearly $4.7m, and the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, to pay $1.1 m, all including interest.
The former president, who has repeatedly described the prosecution as a “witch-hunt”, denies all wrongdoing and has said he will appeal.
The substantial penalties ordered by Engeron have sparked a new round acrimonious comments between Trump and the New York attorney general, Letitia James, over the case.
James told ABC News on Wednesday that she is prepared to seize the former president’s assets if he is unable to cover the fine.
“If he does not have funds to pay off the judgment, then we will seek judgment enforcement mechanisms in court, and we will ask the judge to seize his assets,” James said in an interview with the network.
“We are prepared to make sure that the judgment is paid to New Yorkers, and yes, I look at 40 Wall Street each and every day,” James added.
Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba dismissed that threat, saying that James’s case and her threat to seize 40 Wall Street would not succeed.
“I will tell you this, that goal will not be successful and that is the message I can give to everyone listening here. It will not be successful,” Habba told Fox News.
In his ruling a week ago, Engoron has said the defendants had shown a “complete lack of contrition and remorse [which] borders on pathological” when he imposed the fine and banned Trump for three years, and his adult sons for two, from serving in as top executive roles at any New York company or seeking loans from any New York-registered bank.
On Thursday, he rejected a request by Trump’s lawyer Clifford Robert to delay enforcing the judgments for 30 days in order to allow “an orderly post-judgment process, particularly given the magnitude of judgment”.
Engoron told the attorney that he had “failed to explain, much less justify, any basis for a stay. I am confident that the appellate division will protect your appellate rights.”
