Former President Donald Trump got the relief he was looking for on Monday when a New York appeals court agreed to reduce the bond amount in his business fraud case.
The court reduced Trump's bond to just $175 million after the former president claimed he would have to sell properties at a loss to raise cash to cover the initial amount of $464 million, Bloomberg reported. He now has 10 days to obtain the bond, or else his assets could be frozen and seized.
Justice Arthur Engoron in February ruled that the former president and his adult sons must pay $464 million for grossly inflating his net worth and the value of his assets for more than a decade to obtain favorable conditions on loans. Trump was given a 30-day window to pay the penalty or get a bond to cover the judgment while he appeals the ruling -- and it closed on Monday.
Trump claimed he was asked to pay the nearly half-billion-dollar fine because the judge "saw a similar amount in his bank account." He said he intended to "use much of that hard earned money on running for president." His legal team made several requests to have the bond amount reduced, calling it "insurmountable." The former president even said he would have to have a "fire sale" of his properties to come up with the money.
Trump's son, Eric Trump, shared in an interview with Fox News on Sunday that they had been laughed at by several insurance companies when seeking help with the bond.
"No one's ever seen a bond this size," Eric Trump said. "Every single person, when I came to them saying, 'Hey, can I get a half-billion-dollar bond?' They were laughing. Top executives of large insurance companies had never seen anything of this size."
Requests to reduce the amount were turned down by the New York Attorney General's Office, which has said it would seize Trump's property if it was needed.
If Trump doesn't post bond by the deadline, he will be charged interest on his portion of the $464 million judgement -- totaling $112,000 each day that it goes unpaid. It would also give New York Attorney General Letitia James the green light to freeze his bank accounts and seize assets, including his properties in Manhattan.
This is a developing news story and will be updated. Check back often for the latest coverage.