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Jury Finds Trump Sexually Abused and Defamed E. Jean CarrollReuters/Getty
Trump must set aside $5.55 million for E. Jean Carroll as he appeals her successful defamation verdict.
On Friday, he took the unusual step of asking the court to hold the money as cash instead of bond.
Security experts say the move saves Trump the price of a bond premium: just $55,000.
In an unusual move that saves him just $55,500, Donald Trump has asked a Manhattan federal judge to allow the $5 million he owes writer E. Jean Carroll to be set aside as cash, and not as bond, while he appeals against her May sexual abuse and defamation lawsuit victory.
It’s a very unusual move, guarantors told Insider, noting that the only real benefit of cash is the savings of a 1% bond premium.
“The only reason I can see for this is that they don’t want to spend the extra $55,000” to pay off the bond, said Mike Lapre, a senior vice president in the surety division of NFP, a global property and casualty insurance company. broker.
“I guarantee there are companies that would write this bond for him,” Lapre said. He noted that if the appeal lasted a year, the one percent bond premium would have to be extended, bringing Trump’s costs to $110,000.
“Maybe he’s trying to save some money that way,” Lapre told Insider.
Trump attorney Joe Tacopina filed the request Friday with U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over the libel and assault trial.
His law firm, Tacopina Seigel & DeOreo, is currently holding the $5,550,000, “which is 111% of the judgment amount and is consistent with the traditional security percentage of replacement bonds,” Tacopina wrote the judge, citing the legal name for higher profession used. bonds.
His company is prepared to transfer that money to the court “immediately” once the judge approves the cash-not-bond arrangement, he wrote.
Tacopina did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Carroll attorney Roberta Kaplan, who applied a proposed order for the judge to sign, allowing the settlement, declined to comment.
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Under the proposed order, the court would open an interest-bearing account to hold Trump’s $5.55 million.
Once Trump’s appeals are exhausted, Carroll would collect from the court whatever the former president then owes her.
That amount could be nothing if Trump wins an outright reversal of the verdict, or less than $5 million if an appeals court lowers the verdict.
And it could be more than $5 million if an appeals court upholds the verdict and the amount has grown with the interest Trump must pay based on the length of the appeal. Carroll would also be entitled to the interest accrued on the interest-bearing account.
It is unclear when the court will rule on the request.
“You’re not talking about a lot of money,” agreed New York bondholder Ira Judelson of the bounty Trump would avoid.
Trump may also be trying to prevent a bond from being on his books as a potential credit obligation, said Judelson, whose criminal judge has included former IMF chief. Dominique Strauss-KahnNFL star Plaxico Burress and Irish mixed martial arts star Conor McGregor.
Lapre said he doubted credit liability fears would be a factor in Trump’s decision to waive a bond, since Trump has the cash on hand and doesn’t have to use property as collateral.
In any case, the judge could still override the deal, Lapre said.
Courts prefer a bond and typically don’t want to deal with the paperwork of setting up an interest-bearing account that would hold the money for the duration of any appeals, he said.
Trump can be notoriously harsh when it comes to punishments handed down to him in court. In January, he paid his lawyers to file some 1,000 pages of pleadings to challenge a $130,000 contempt of court order.
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