Fox News host Mark Levin has called out billionaires for not paying Donald Trump’s legal bills after the former president’s legal team said paying his $400 million New York civil fraud penalty would be “a practical impossibility.”

Trump is seeking a bond of $464 million to cover his fines and a stay in the execution of the monetary portion of the civil trial ruling after Judge Arthur Engoron ruled in February that Trump must pay $355 million for committing fraud. The New York court held that Trump and top executives at The Trump Organization inflated the value of his assets to obtain more favorable terms from lenders and insurers. With interest, the full payment will be roughly $454 million. Trump’s lawyers are appealing the verdict.

On Monday, the Republican suffered a setback after Trump’s legal team admitted in a court filing that it is a “practical impossibility” for him to make the $464 million payment and requested a stay pending the outcome of an appeal process. His team had contacted 33 companies to try to secure funding.

  • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Even if this guy wasn’t trying to weasel out of paying a cent, there is some validity to the argument that money in commercial real estate is not particularly liquid.

    • ikidd@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      If it weren’t leveraged and/or overleveraged already, he could have signed loans by now that would have paid for it. Haven’t we already heard how Maralogo is worth like 1.8B despite being on the tax rolls for 20M? Sounds like plenty of equity there alone.

    • Bridger@sh.itjust.works
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      8 months ago

      But the equity in real estate is liquid in the form of security for a bond. What this tells us is that he doesn’t have enough equity to cover the bond- in other words he’s been lying all along about his wealth. Surprised?

    • jkrtn@lemmy.ml
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      8 months ago

      There’s no validity to the argument. I don’t get a pass on that shit for paying fines or taxes to the government. “Oh, sorry, my money is tied up in illiquid video game consoles.” Fuck’s sake.