Donald J. Trump offered a New York appeals court on Wednesday a bond of only $100 million to pause the more than $450 million penalty he faces in his civil fraud case, a clear sign that the former president lacks the money to cover the full amount.
Mr. Trump, who is on the clock to either secure a bond from a company or produce the full amount himself, also asked the appeals court to pause enforcement of the financial penalty and a wide range of other punishments the judge levied. They include a prohibition on obtaining a loan from a New York bank for three years and a ban on running a company in the state during that same period.
One appellate court judge was expected to hear the request from Mr. Trump on Wednesday afternoon and issue a decision shortly after. If the appellate judge grants the pause, it will be only temporary; Mr. Trump would still have to persuade a larger panel of appellate judges to keep the judgment on hold.
In seeking relief, Mr. Trump’s lawyers disclosed that they would be unable to secure a bond for the full amount, raising the prospect that he might soon default on the judgment if the appeals court denies his request.
“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,” the lawyers wrote.
Posting bond for the full amount would prevent the New York attorney general’s office, which brought the fraud suit, from collecting the judgment until Mr. Trump’s appeal is resolved. The attorney general, Letitia James, built her case on the accusation that Mr. Trump had fraudulently inflated his net worth by as much as $2 billion.
