New York AG questions Trump's cash reserves in $464 million fraud suit

Former President Donald Trump has not shown he has enough cash to cover the full amount of a $464 million civil fraud judgment if he loses his appeal, New York's top legal official warned in a lawsuit Monday evening.

New York Attorney General Letitia James raised this concern when she said that Trump and other defendants should be required to post cash or bonds covering the entire fraud judgment if they want to temporarily stay it until it is due while they challenge the ruling.

“Defendants have never demonstrated that Mr. Trump's liquid assets — which may fluctuate over time — would be sufficient to satisfy the full amount of this judgment after appeal,” James told the New York Court of Appeals.

The value of Trump's real estate holdings may also decline as the appeal continues, while post-judgment interest continues to rise, she wrote.

James added that his financial situation may come under further pressure due to his other civil and criminal legal battles, including a jury ruling in January that ordered him to pay $83.3 million in damages for defaming writer E.J. Jane Carroll.

Trump “has significant liabilities that may further reduce his liquid assets, including other pending financial judgments against him, and faces multiple criminal indictments,” she wrote in reference to that ruling.

James warned that without full bail, the civil fraud defendants — Trump, his two adult sons, his company and top executives — may also try to “evade” or worsen enforcement if they lose the appeal.

She urged the appeals court to reject Trump's attempt to halt a $100 million bond award, less than a quarter of the total amount ordered by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron.

Trump's lawyers did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment on James' file.

Defense attorneys argued that the smaller bond amount was sufficient to secure the judgment, when combined with continued oversight of the Trump Organization's assets by a court-appointed comptroller.

They claimed it would be “impossible” for them to secure the full appeal bond, which could be capped at 120% of the judgment — more than $550 million — because that judgment also barred Trump from applying for loans in New York.

James challenged that claim, writing that the defendants “failed to provide information about what steps (if any) they took to obtain a bond prior to filing their application.”

She noted that they have not yet shown that Trump — the alleged billionaire who said in a filing last year that he carried more than $400 million in cash — tried and failed to obtain the bonds. The borrowing ban is not an obstacle either, she wrote, because appeal bonds are not loans.

Appeal bonds are intended to ensure that a person who was awarded damages at trial will be able to collect that money if the judgment is upheld on appeal. The person posting the bond will get their deposit back if they win their appeal.

New York Court of Appeals Judge Anil Singh on February 28 rejected the $100 million bond offer, but allowed the defendants to continue doing business in New York and lifted the ban on requesting loans.

This temporary ruling is effective before a full panel of appeals court judges considers the matter next week.

Meanwhile, Trump on Friday posted $91.6 million bail as he appeals a federal civil jury ruling that found him liable for defaming Carroll after she came forward to accuse him of raping her in the mid-1990s.

This was the second jury to order Trump to pay Carroll damages for defamation. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee continued to attack Carroll, prompting her lawyers to suggest they might file another defamation suit.