Trump offers $100m bond to pause fraud ruling as New York AG fires back at his appeal

Attorneys for Donald Trump are offering to put up only $100m to post bond in an appeal of his $455m fraud trial judgment that would pause the massive ruling against him, signalling that the former president is coming up short to block it.

In a lengthy filing to a New York appeals court, the former president’s legal team is asking to pause the ruling as he fights it, arguing that the sprawling case against him and his real estate empire falls outside the statute of limitations, with a final judgment representing an “unprecedented and unconstitutional” violation of his Eighth Amendment right against excessive fines.

They argued that his ban from running his companies and receiving loans is “draconian” and would “needlessly result in irreparable injury,” setting a precedent for “any citizen of this State who has the misfortune of dissenting” from the “politics” of state attorney general Letitia James, whose three-year investigation and lawsuit sparked a months-long trial in Manhattan.

But his attorneys don’t want to secure a bond for the full amount of the judgment, which would prevent Ms James’s office from collecting on it until the appeal is resolved.

“The exorbitant and punitive amount of the judgment coupled with an unlawful and unconstitutional blanket prohibition on lending transactions would make it impossible to secure and post a complete bond,” according to Mr Trump’s lawyers.

On Wednesday, state appellate judge Anil Singh denied Mr Trump’s request to halt enforcement of the monetary judgment against him, but he will still be allowed to direct his real estate empire and apply for loans.

Mr Trump’s attorneys had previously argued that they could not secure a bond with the loan penalty in place.

If the appeals