Trump, On Hook For $489 Million Civil Fraud Verdict, To Send Lawyers To Appeals Court

Lawyers for Donald Trump are set to appear at an appellate court for oral arguments in New York on Thursday as they try to overturn a staggering civil fraud verdict — now nearing $500 million with interest — that the former president and his co-defendants were slapped with earlier this year.

Judge Arthur Engoron ruled in February that Trump, the Trump Organization and some of its executives — including Trump’s sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, as well as former Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg — falsified business records for years as they significantly overvalued real estate assets and holdings to secure sweetheart business deals and loans from insurers.

One such overvaluation involved Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. Trump had overvalued that property by as much as 2,300%, and he also claimed that his New York penthouse in Trump Tower was three times bigger than its actual size, Engoron found.

After nearly three months of proceedings, Engoron told Trump that the “frauds found here leap off the page and shock the conscience.” He ordered the former president, the Trump Organization and other related entities pay about $364 million, before interest, to the state of New York.

The total amount has since increased. The current penalty now hovers at $489 million, and interest continues to be tacked on to the tune of more than $110,000 daily as the case lumbers ahead.

Trump managed to post a $175 million bond in April, allowing him to stave off the seizure of his assets. He’d spent weeks simultaneously claiming that he could not secure a bond while bragging that he had enough collateral to secure one. The bond is meant to ensure that Trump will pay his full fine if it is upheld by the courts.

Attorney John