Trump has managed to cling onto his property empire after posting $175m bond. What happens next?

Donald Trump has paid his $175m bond in his New York civil fraud case, a week after he was handed an extraordinary lifeline just as deadline day dawned.

Judge Arthur Engoron ruled in February that Mr Trump was liable for a decade-long scheme that saw the value of Trump Organization assets routinely inflated in order to obtain favourable loans from banks and insurers, ordering him to pay $354m in fines and a further $110m plus in interest.

As the interest ticked ever-upwards at 9 per cent or $120,000 a day, the exact total he owed as the deadline arrived was closer to $468.1m, with his lawyers arguing that he had been unable to find a surety company willing to stump up the cash – after approaching more than 30 – given the sheer scale of the money involved.

On 25 March, a panel of state Appellate Division judges unexpectedly granted the Republican presidential candidate a 10-day extension and slashed the $464m bond value.

Mr Trump subsequently pledged on Truth Social that he would “abide by the decision of the Appellate Division, and post either a bond, equivalent securities or cash”.

On Easter Monday, with the help of California’s Knight Specialty Insurance Company, Mr Trump posted that $175m bond.

This means that New York Attorney General Letitia James cannot yet begin seizing the former president’s assets – including some of the most prized property in his real estate empire.

Here’s what could happen next:

Mr Trump – who is also battling four criminal cases in Washington DC, New York, Georgia and Florida while simultaneously campaigning for the presidency, chewing up an estimated $230,000 per day in legal expenses – was granted a considerable reprieve by the appelate judges but could still ultimately end up owing the