Trump’s $175m bond in fraud case should be voided, says New York attorney general

New York Attorney General Letitia James has asked the judge in Donald Trump’s civil fraud case to void the $175m bond posted previously by the former president, after questioning whether the insurance company has sufficient funds to back it up.

Mr Trump’s bond was posted by California-based Knight Specialty Insurance Company (KSIC), and Ms James raised concerns that the insurer was “not authorised” to write business in New York.

In a 26-page filing posted on Friday ahead of a pre-scheduled hearing next week, her office also argued that the collateral put up by the former president should be under the full control of the company.

Ms James said that the KSIC «had never before written a surety bond in New York or in the prior two years in any other jurisdiction, and has a total policy holder surplus of just $138 million,” according to the documents obtained by NBC.

The filing comes after Ms James filed a separate notice earlier this month seeking more information about the bond. In that filing, she asked that Mr Trump’s lawyers or the insurance company “file a motion to justify the surety bond” or provide additional information about the collateral put up by the former president within 10 days

In his civil fraud trial Mr Trump, his two eldest sons and their fellow Trump Organization executives were found liable for illegally inflating the value of company assets to obtain favourable terms from banks and insurers.

The former president was hit with penalties of $354m plus more than $110m in interest.

But after Judge Arthur Engoron handed down the verdict on 16 February, the Republican presidential candidate’s attorneys complained that they were finding it a “practical impossibility” to raise the full $464m for the bond needed