Ex-prosecutor highlights 'ironic' reason companies won't give Trump bond in his fraud case
Former President Donald Trump has acknowledged he will almost certainly be unable to pay the $464 million bond to appeal the New York civil fraud case he lost earlier this year.
One ironic reason this may be the case, suggested former federal prosecutor John Flannery on Friday's edition of MSNBC's "The Beat," is that because that case found Trump liable for fraudulently valuing his properties, no person or company who can put up the bond can trust that his properties will be adequate collateral.
"Let's talk about the law," said anchor Ari Melber, himself an attorney. "Most people are familiar with bonds from a different concept, a physical bond in a criminal case. This is in New York — different states do it different ways — you have every right to appeal and he has afforded the appeal. You don't get to run out the clock ... you put up the money or the bond. In this case he is admitting he's going to have a hard time doing that. If he can't put up the legally required bond by Monday, then what happens?"
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"What's going to happen is, first of all, the bond is to protect those who are at risk," said Flannery. "If he doesn't put up the bond while he's appealing — it's to hold people in their same positions. Meaning, you can appeal with you make sure you have the funds because our risk on your frivolous appeal is all your funds. His lawyers have said there's a practical impossibility to do it. Ironically, the impossibility is how do you value the land assets that he claims to have that are worth so much?"
"Which were deemed often fraudulently described?" said Melber.
"Right," Flannery agreed. "And the people who would put up the bonds, according to their own people, are saying, we're not taking anything as collateral because in different cases they've said the property is worth more, which is what they do here? Or they say [it's worth less]."
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John Flannery explains why Trump can't get a bond www.youtube.com