New York City – Former President Donald Trump has obtained a $91.6 million bond to cover the judgment he owes to writer E. Jean Carroll in a defamation lawsuit as he appeals the jury’s decision, according to his lawyer. Attorney Alina Habba filed documents with the court on Friday, revealing that Trump secured the bond from the Federal Insurance Co., a subsidiary of the insurance company Chubb. The bond will not only cover the $83.3 million judgment in the lawsuit but also any additional interest incurred.
Simultaneously, Habba submitted a notice stating that Trump, the likely 2024 Republican presidential nominee, is appealing the verdict. The bond’s posting is a necessary step to postpone payment of the award until the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals can rule on Trump’s legal challenge. These filings come after Judge Lewis A. Kaplan refused to delay the deadline for posting the bond, which would ensure Carroll, an 80-year-old writer, can collect the judgment if it remains upheld after appeals.
The financial pressure on Trump is mounting as he must set aside funds to cover both the judgment in the Carroll case and an even larger one in a lawsuit where he was found liable for lying about his wealth in financial statements submitted to banks.
Recently, a New York judge denied Trump’s request to halt the collection of a $454 million penalty in a civil fraud case while he appeals the decision. He now has until March 25 to either pay the penalty or acquire a bond that covers the full amount. In the meantime, interest on the judgment is accumulating, adding approximately $112,000 each day.
To cope with these legal challenges, Trump’s lawyers have requested a stay on the appeal judgment, cautioning that he may need to sell some of his properties to cover the penalty.
The initial lawsuit was filed by Carroll, who alleged that Trump sexually assaulted her in 1996 in the dressing room of a luxury department store in Manhattan. Trump vehemently denies these claims, asserting that he did not know Carroll at the time and that the alleged encounter at Bergdorf Goodman never occurred.
During the first trial in May, a civil jury found Trump responsible for sexual abuse and awarded Carroll $5 million in damages for the assault and the harm inflicted on her reputation after Trump publicly accused her of fabricating the attack for the purpose of boosting her memoir sales. In January, a second trial took place to determine the additional compensation Trump owed Carroll for derogatory comments he made about her in 2019 while in office. Judge Kaplan instructed the jury to accept the previous jury’s findings regarding the sexual abuse.
Trump did not attend the first trial but testified briefly during the second trial. He frequently sat with his defense lawyers, although the judge threatened to remove him from the courtroom due to his audible disdainful remarks about the case, potentially audible to jurors.