It may be that the bond company didn't report their financials because they have insufficient collateral to secure a bond of this magnitude. In which case the bond is no good, Trump doesn't have a bond, and he is out of time.
"The financial statement that is missing does not seem to be Trump's. Rather, the court appears to be demanding these documents from Knight Specialty Insurance Co. to ensure that the company is sufficiently capitalized and authorized to post the bond," Rubin wrote on Wednesday."
@mastodonmigration Well it makes sense. The underwriter of the bond must have the necessary available capital to hand; otherwise any fool could underwrite a bond, and leave the claimant with nothing.
Exactly. The court wouldn't care about Trump's financials since that's the purpose of the bond anyway. It's the insurer who needs to demonstrate they have the bond covered.
Think the reporting on this may be generally incorrect.
@jumbanho Maybe, but as of now Trump doesn't have a bond, and the bond company seems to have not provided evidence of sufficient collateral. Seems like that is the story.
@mastodonmigration I agree it's a story, and the bonding company many not have the collateral (which would have severe implications for Trump), but if it is just a delay tactic, it exemplifies how Trump plays the legal system to his advantage.
"The court would likely reject Trump's bond if the paperwork is not corrected. That would mean Trump would lose his right to appeal Engoron's fraud judgment and the $454 million would be due.
Attorney Tristan Snell, author of Taking Down Trump about his experience suing Trump on behalf of students of the failed Trump University, noted that the insurance paperwork has been "returned for correction""
"But the surety bond was missing vital information typically included in those filings, experts say. These standard elements include documents related to power of attorney for the bond provider, Knight Specialty Insurance Company, a financial statement from the company and a certificate of solvency from the Department of Financial Services."
"...you always have to have a certificate from the Department of Financial Services saying that you're licensed to issue a surety bond," he said, referring to the missing certificate of solvency under Section 1111 of New York Insurance Law."
Adam Pollock, a former assistant attorney general in New York, said, "This bond is deficient for a number of reasons... Including that the company doesn't appear to be licensed in New York and doesn't appear to have enough capital to make this undertaking."
Would love to see our favorite Law and Crime reporter @Brandi_Buchman get some credit for breaking this story 20 hours ago, and not going down the "Trump lawyers made a mistake" rabbit hole, when everyone else got it wrong.
So, this is not over yet. The Trump/Knight bond saga continues...
UPI reports that a modified bond filing has been added:
"Trump's initial bond, posted on Tuesday, was rejected and returned for correction, as reflected by the New York County Supreme Court's website, due to a missing financial statement and other documentation. These missing documents have been added in a new filing."
"The financial statement comes from Knight Specialty Insurance Company, the underwriter for the bond. It is signed by Don Hankey, the billionaire chairman and CEO of Hankey Group, and Amit Shah, president of Knight Specialty Insurance. The statement assures that the company can cover the $175 million bond."
However! There is more... see next reply in thread!
In a new legal filing, James "takes exception to the sufficiency of the surety to the undertaking given by Defendants" and the bond issued by Knight Specialty Insurance Company (KSIC) "without a certificate of qualification pursuant to Insurance Law."
"James wants to know if Knight can pay the $175 million bond."
"James' office has filed a notice of exception to the surety that requires either Trump and/or his legal team or the surety to demonstrate by motion that the surety is financially capable of performing under the bond."
"If you seek a bond from a company not admitted in New York, as Trump did with Knight, you cannot get a certificate of qualification from DFS," they said.
"So, by law, you have to demonstrate to the court why the surety you obtained is capable of paying under the bond if the judgment creditor files a notice of exception to the surety, as we did here.
"At a minimum, that requires a showing that the surety is financially sound and that the face amount of the bond is sufficiently collateralized by identifiable assets."
"New York City-based attorney Nicole Brenecki told Newsweek that KSIC does not meet the "surplus" mandate for posting the bond in New York State."
"The entity is relatively unknown and allegations have been circulated that it has ties to Trump himself," she said. "As such, and given that the bond has already been significantly reduced, it seems reasonable for the AG to verify whether this particular company has the ability to pay the bond."
And there's more! CBS is now all over this with an amended story that includes the James notice of exception and a lot of analysis. Won't summarize, just enjoy the madness:
"Within 10 days, Trump or the company must file a motion to "justify" the bond, meaning Knight must prove that it is financially capable of paying the bond."
The Don's are certainly giving us a lesson in NY State bond surety. Who knew you actually have to prove you have the money and that it won't go walking if and when it comes time to pay up.
"Over the past two years, Axos Bank, as well as its largest individual shareholder, California billionaire Don Hankey, have collectively extended more than $500 million in financing that has benefited Trump, records show..."
@mastodonmigration@GottaLaff aw damnit. I’ve been using Axos for years. I was just recently considering moving to a credit union. This just made that choice easy.
@mastodonmigration@GottaLaff I'd love to see every conservative billionaire get dragged down into the shit because they just couldn't resist sticking their greasy fingers in Trump's pig sty
The argument that the regulation of surety providers does not apply because they're an out of state surety provider, is world class "neener neener neener" (H/T Dave Barry). They have no intention of putting up the money, they're just creating delay for the donbald.
"Knight Specialty Insurance Company is not a New York domestic insurer, and New York surplus lines insurance laws do not regulate the solvency of non-New York excess lines insurers," he said. "So we don't believe we need the 10% surplus."
"Defendants or (Knight) shall file a motion to justify the surety within ten days of the service of this notice, failing which the Bond shall be without effect, except that the surety shall remain liable on the Bond until a new undertaking is given and allowed,” state lawyers wrote in the filings. "
Translation?: If Knight doesn't respond, no bond for Trump, but Knight still on the hook for $$$.
Every new news story has a additional detail. This Independent story notes the motion hearing to rule on the validity (surety) of the Knight bond is now scheduled for April 22.
The Trump/Hankey bond matter got some play on MSNBC today. Interesting revelation toward the end of the piece:
"Many of [Trump's properties] are already pledged to other lenders... Axos Bank in which Don Hankey is the largest individual shareholder, has $225 million of outstanding loans to Donald Trump on... Trump Tower and the Doral Golf Course."
"Mmm-hmm. There it is," co-host Steele interjected as Sanders-Townsend exclaimed, "That bank has problems."👀
Not only is Knight unlicensed in NY, it "hasn’t even been vetted by a voluntary state entity that would verify it meets minimum “eligibility standards” to prove financial stability."
And, get this! Knight doesn't even promise to "pay the money if the former president loses his $464 million bank fraud case on appeal. Instead, it says Trump will pay, negating the whole point of an insurance company guarantee..."
Yes, this Daily Beast story is behind a subscription (free) wall, but it is a doozy! Well worth the effort if you are following this evolving story.
Another gem...
"New York law limits how much money state-regulated surety companies can post on a single bond to 10 percent of a firm’s total “capital and surplus.”... [but Knight] only has $138 million in “surplus,” vastly exceeding the government-set cap because the Trump bond alone makes up 127 percent of the company’s reserves."
"Understand that Knight Specialty has a problem. This bond cannot be approved. Under the CPLR [Civil Practice Laws and Rules] the surety will remain obligated under the bond until a replacement bond is filed. Trump is unlikely to get a replacement bond. Knight Spec will be liable AND Trump won't have a stay [on enforcement],"
"Thus NY AG James looks to be soon greenlit to execute on her $450 million judgment against Trump as if Trump posted no bond."
"But the Trumpian part is that even though, or perhaps because, it may be part of a Trump scam, Knight now too may be on the hook for $175 million as it won't automatically get out from underneath its own proffered surety."
The fact that Knight may get dinged gives me an immense sense of balance. It's like the Trickster God running this place peeked out and said "not so fast. ironic man"
You can always be sure of the immutable laws of the universe: the the speed of light in a vacuum, gravity will bend space, and Everything #Trump Touches Dies.
@mastodonmigration@GottaLaff
So the appeals court reducing the bond was a sucker punch. Or perhaps better described as a sting operation.
It's like justice said why eliminate one scumbag when we can divide the judgement and take out two?
Nothing particularly new here, except the mention of a Hankey Kushner linkage, but a very good summary by @jaykuo and a nice read while we wait for the "real" media to catch up with this story.
Two dates to keep an eye on are Monday the 15th when Knight (Hankey) is supposed to file a financial justification for the bond and a hearing on the following Monday, the 22nd, with Judge Engoron on the entire matter which should be very interesting indeed.
TFG has no idea how to follow the law, let alone uphold the Constitution. Rapist, fraud, gangster, conman. GOP candidate.
What is wro... No, how far down does self centered greed carry the amoral Republican Party of no principles?
Yes, Texas is an example. Kansas before that. More can be named? Think health care, education, rights, median quality of life, gender equality, identity equality, ... long, long list ....
Sorry team, it's too convoluted to summarize this nonsense, but the bottom line is that the US company that has put up the bond for Trump seems to not have the assets to pay the bond, and is backed by an impenetrable opaque Cayman registered affiliate company that experts say would make collection close to impossible.
The hearing on the INsufficiency of trump’s bond is scheduled for Monday 4/22 in Judge Engoron’s court.
trump sure has bought himself a lot of time keeping the New York DA from executing on Engoron’s judgment. Judge Engoron issued his findings and judgment on 2/16, and was filed with the clerk on 2/23. Originally the DA could have begun seizing trump assets on 3/25 absent a bond.
But trump got the amount of the bond reduced (possibly by misleading the court about availability of the larger bond) AND a 10-day extension until April 1 to file a bond in the new amount. But the bond filed on that date has not been accepted because of irregularities. Now the hearing on that isn’t till April 22! All the while the NY DA has not been able to start collecting the judgment.
Not necessarily — if he’s able to use the delays to rearrange his assets to render himself & company “judgment-proof”.
And yes, I know the monitor appointed by Judge Engoron is supposed to be micromanaging trump org business, but they have already hidden things from her.
Ps—I’m not a Debbie Downer about trump accountability here; I KNOW the law will catch up with them eventually, and fervently hope Engoron’s judgment here will be the beginning.
It’s just this delay of nearly a month and counting suddenly hit me, so I wondered what they could be up to? I know lifelong criminals gonna keep criming!
Here’s the timeline in an easier to follow format :
Engoron issued his findings and judgment on 2/16; an order wasn’t filed with the clerk until 2/23 (wonder why that took a week).
Originally NYAG could begin seizing trump assets on 3/25 absent a bond for $445+ mill.
On 3/21 trump got the bond amount reduced (maybe by misleading the appellate court about availability of a bond for the full amount) PLUS a 10-day extension until April 1 to file the much smaller bond!
The bond trump filed on April Fools Day (‼️) HAS NOT BEEN ACCEPTED because of multiple serious DEFICIENCIES; there won’t be a hearing until 4/22 in Engoron’s court.
All the while the NYAG has been STAYED from collecting a judgment she should have been able to start collecting on March 25. Who knows what steps trump&co are taking during this delay to make it more difficult to collect⁉️
Feel like the wheels of justice are just grinding away slowly. Nothing with government ever happens at the pace we might like to see it happen, but that doesn't necessarily imply a conspiracy, just business as usual. Trump is doing everything he can to gum up the works, and is succeeding to a degree, but he is losing, and his day of reckoning is coming.
Let's take the latest ploy with the bogus bond. This is a pretty novel move, and there probably isn't a way to just reject it out of hand. So, a legal proceeding is required, which will take a little bit of time. The bond is almost certainly bogus, so it will get shot down, but the state has to follow a legal process. A couple weeks is not that big a deal in the grand scheme. And, who knows, Hankey may find himself in hot water too when the dust settles.
The interesting thing on the 4/22 hearing will be Trump team’s showing where the $100M + for the bond came from. Could be shenanigans going of with Truth False which would catch the eye of the SEC and other federal lawyers. Especially as the stock drops like a stone.
Not sure there is any $100M + in any account. Hankey could just be making stuff up. Nothing any of these characters say should be given any credit unless it is in a sworn statement or filing, and even then it is likely some sort of misleading ruse.
@mastodonmigration@bronakins@Lon3star@GottaLaff agreed
Hence Judge E’s placement of a financial monitor. She already called out b.s. after the ruling relating to an intracompany loan for the Chicago property that was an Enron type paper lie.
This all is the biggest stink seen since Enron. But have to let the wheels of justice grind. But it’s financial minutiae and NY AG definitely wants it all correct
After the Appellate Division cut trump a break by significantly reducing his bond, he files this questionable nonbinding bond. trump seems to be making a mockery of the New York Courts. They WILL NOT be in good humor.
Kind of wonder if most serious judges actually react to such shenanigans. They deal with criminals every day. It probably comes as no surprise that a criminal uses every trick in the book to get away with stuff. Their job is to see that the law is applied. They might feel a bit annoyed by a particularly sneaky gambit, but bet it doesn't change how they deal with the criminal all that much.
🎯🎯🎯🎯 There are a LOT of questions. The wording of the bond doesn’t bind Knight to pay if trump doesn’t, just promises trump will pay. Knight’s capitalization is much too low for the size of the bond. Knight not approved or even known to New York authorities to post bonds.
And possibly much more delay in the offing for a variety of reasons. We KNOW trump & lawyers supposed to be in Manhattan Criminal Court on April 22! Of course a defendant in a civil case doesn’t hafta be in court; I’m not sure if any of the lawyers are the same on the election interference/payoff criminal case and Engoron’s civil fraud case …
Yup. The bond does seem to be entirely inadequate. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. One of the more fascinating aspects is the bond my be rejected, but Hankey (Knight) still on the hook for the $175M.
@mastodonmigration@GottaLaff Hello Beautiful ANGEL I love your post and you do have a lovely smile on your profile, can you follow me so we can be friends . Thanks🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
"If Trump fails to meet the Monday deadline for showing the fitness of the bond, the New York attorney general could begin enforcing the fraud ruling..."
I have to think that any collections are stayed at least until the court makes a decision on the validity of the bond, and that won't happen until at least the 4/22 and probably a few more days for the court to rule.
So, Trump has now filed something that claims the bond is adequate and says that it is backed by an account with enough cash.
"In court filings Monday night, Trump said the bond secured by Knight Specialty Insurance Company is backed by Trump’s Charles Schwab account with more than $175 million in cash. Knight Specialty can take control of the Schwab account and is fully backed by its parent company to assume any risk, one of Trump’s filings said."
"The insurance company now has a “first priority lien and security interest” on whatever money is stored in that account. The Trump trust will be required to ensure it contains “no less than $175 million in cash or cash equivalents at all times,” according to the memorandum."
"Reacting to the bond court filings, Weissmann posted on X, formerly Twitter: "Something's fishy here. If Trump has $175M free and clear, why not just directly post it and not pay a fee for a surety bond? And the agreement does not give Knight a lien on the account as collateral and seems to afford Trump a two-day window to dissipate the account."
"In a series of posts, Allison Gill, who posts on social media using the account for the Mueller, She Wrote podcast, said that the documents appear "shady," while also asking why Trump doesn't just pay the bond outright if he appears to have the cash."
"I'm no expert, but I think to back a bond, the guarantor has to have at least enough cash to cover it. But here, they say Trump is covering it and they have access to Trump's Schwab account."
"Legal experts are now questioning details of the new bond filings. Some suggest a portion of the $175 million might also currently be in use to secure other debts or obligations."
"This wording — that the insurer "has the right to exercise control" over the money — appears to fall short of what bond writers usually demand of their cash customers."
"The final call on whether the Knight bond sinks or swims will be up to... [Judge] Engoron, who has set a Monday hearing on the matter."
"On Tuesday, Engoron filed a response giving the AG's office until Friday to respond to the new defense challenge"
Note that the Business Insider article has a link to Engoran's order giving NY until Friday to respond, and that this order includes the entire filing by Trump/Knight (all 108 pages!).
"...the parent company appearing to have "adequate capitalization" without having "authority to do business in New York or to issue surety bonds," Germain pointed out. "The question, I think, is whether that reinsurance would clearly and unconditionally apply and require KIC to pay the bond, and whether the AG would be able to enforce that reinsurance commitment if KSIC was unable to pay," he said."
"The former president, Germain said, appears to be "trying to use an incapable insurance company as a front to avoid meeting the statutory requirement," but "it's not going to work."
The court, Germain said, will have to determine whether Knight Insurance's reinsurance makes the parent company's capital "immediately available" to Knight Specialty if the $175 million bond has to be paid to ensure "prompt payment."
"The AG has valid reasons for questioning the validity of a bond posted by an out-of-state insurer without a certificate from the Insurance department, and having inadequate capitalization to cover the bond... also somewhat doubtful that a reinsurance policy would so clearly cover a default on a surety bond."
"Trump's apparent decision to not put up the money himself "also raises the question of whether the collateral is double-pledged to secure another obligation..."
The AG's office in a filing said that Trump and other defendants in the case had failed to show there is enough identifiable collateral to back the bond for the judgment in Manhattan Supreme Court.
“Based on KSIC’s policyholder surplus in its most recent annual financial statement of $138,441,671, the limitation of loss on any one risk that KSIC is permitted to write is $13.8 million,” the lawyers wrote. “The face amount of the bond exceeds this limitation by $161.2 million.”
"The state also argued that because Trump still has access to the $175 million in cash he placed in an account as collateral, the court should find that he and his codefendants “failed to meet their burden to demonstrate that the Bond is ‘sufficiently collateralized by identifiable assets.'”
"[The insurer] is only worth $138 million, which is smaller than the size of the bond, and alleging it is using a “shadow” company in the Cayman Islands to “appear more financially stable than it actually is."
"...but there’s nothing suggesting that money is “locked,” meaning Trump could withdraw some of that $175 million at any time..."
As CBS News has reported, Knight doesn't appear to meet a restriction under New York insurance law barring companies from putting more than 10% of its capital at risk, and the attorney general's office noted that Knight has a surplus of only $138 million. Under New York law, given that amount of surplus, it may not take on liability of more than $13.8 million."
"The attorney general also said that Knight relies on risk transfer practices that work to "artificially" bolster its surplus. James also argues that Knight's management is untrustworthy, violating federal law "on multiple occasions over the last several years."
If Trump isn't held to account now, I don't think he ever will be. This is cut and dried fraud guaranteed (as another company in the Trump orbit used to be called).
"Lawyers representing Trump and James' office are expected to meet in court on Monday for a hearing on the bond. Trump, however, will likely be in a different New York City courtroom on Monday, when his hush money criminal trial is set to resume with opening statements after jury selection was completed."
So, a bit anti-climatic. The judge has agreed to let the bond stand provided the collateral stay as cash in the account and provide monthly account statements to the AG.
"According to Monday's agreement, the $175 million will stay as cash in a money market account, Knight Specialty will have exclusive control, but can only use the cash to pay for the bond if needed. The attorney general's office and the court will get monthly account statements."
According to Monday's agreement, the $175 million will stay as cash in a money market account, Knight Specialty will have exclusive control, but can only use the cash to pay for the bond if needed. The attorney general's office and the court will get monthly account statements.
The agreement will be finalized by Thursday, April 25, and some of the details require Schwab, the managers of the money market account, to agree to the terms.
The agreement between Trump and Knight Specialty Insurance Company cannot be amended without court approval, and Knight will submit to the jurisdiction of the court. The company waived its right of removal and its lawyers agreed to designate an agent to accept service of process in New York.
Was there not some point that the prosecutor's office was making about the money in that account restricted from being used in some other way, such as collateral for a different loan, concurrently?
@mastodonmigration@GottaLaff more than a bit anticlimactic. So, they should have $175 million sitting in an account now so as to be able to pay that much, but I still don't understand how that means that there's been anything demonstrated about the ability to pay the entire judgment.
That was due to the appeals court ruling. It is not unusual for a bond amount to be reduced in this manner, and it is also not unusual for an appeals court to reduce the overall judgement.
The whole reason for reduced bond is he didn't have full amount. But tomorrow he will. So will they require he post the whole thing then? If not, he'll have played the courts for suckers again.
He is not going to have any money tomorrow. The shares will still be locked up and as soon as anyone starts moving volume there will not be buyers so the the price will crater. It's like monopoly money.
Also, he is not playing the courts for suckers. Nothing that has happened is out of the norm for the way courts work in these kinds of high $$$ business fraud cases. His bond was reduced. He tried to get away with sketchy collateral and the court made him shore it up. It does the public a disservice to continue to henny penny about how he is getting away with stuff. He's not. His day of reckoning is coming, not be as quickly as we might like, but justice is being served
If that's true, I'm relieved. I got the impression he was getting the 1st tranche of unlocked shares, and so he could immediately start selling tomorrow.
And of course, whenever he gets them, if he tries to dump them all at once it will drive the price down, so I think he won't be that stupid.
But if he isn't getting unlocked shares tomorrow, please accept my apology for being 'henny penny'.
@mastodonmigration@LiberalEd@GottaLaff almost agree. He COULD make money if it keeps artificially propped up to the end of his lockup. But once the insiders start selling, it craters. The money they make will be at the expense of any idiot who doesn't know the deal or that is simply willing to transfer their money to the guy they claim is one of the richest in the world.
@mastodonmigration
Yay, thanks — you must know how much I love to read the original legal documents.
Btw, earlier this week, you provided a link to trump’s bond “justification”filing. I posted about its glaring deficiencies, so I’ve been expecting to see an answer from the NYAG before Monday! Their original motion demanding justification was pretty tame.
@mastodonmigration@GottaLaff If Judge Engoron rejects the sketchy $175MM bond Monday, there's a low but nonzero chance that on Tuesday Trump will be sitting in the lower Manhattan criminal courthouse, unable to scream, unable to leave, when news arrives that Tish James has slapped a foreclosure notice on his 40 Wall Street building, less than a mile away.
@mastodonmigration@GottaLaff Background to the above post: next Monday, opening arguments will begin in Trump's criminal trial AND Judge Engoron will conduct a hearing to decide whether Trump's bond is adequate or if A.G. James can start seizing his New York properties.
@mastodonmigration@dswidow@GottaLaff I thought I did not understand what was going on with this bond but this was what made me doubt “Why not just directory post it and not pas a fee for a surety bond”.
Indeed something fishy !!!!! #trump#VoteBlueToSaveEveryone
They claim it's logistically impossible to jail him. BS. Just use the airport hangar close to where he parks his jet. It's already security cleared with ample room for the secret service.
NFL
So Knight can take control of the account but has to give two days' notice. Do you really believe TFG would leave that cash in that account in the event of a loss? He'd have it out in minutes, winging its way to some tax haven.
@mastodonmigration@GottaLaff I think I need a stronger G&T.But reading that I felt no actual surprise. I am really NOT surprised that the bond is even more seriously dodgy than previously known. And that is I think sad. No surprise since jjust about every reputable firm/bank/etc has no interest in the risk or the publicity! And who can blame them.
Maybe, you'd think they had to know the bond would not pass muster. But what Hankey probably didn't bargain on was being held liable for the money anyway. Oooops!
@mastodonmigration@GottaLaff It's so gratifying to finally see trump's financial schemes given the scrutiny they deserve. He has gotten away with so much in the past. No more!
@mastodonmigration@GottaLaff I’m still a bit confused though. I understand that the initially filing was rejected because it lacked required information, James is challenging the validity of the bond itself, and non-involved lawyers reviewing the publicly-available information say it doesn’t satisfy the terms. But has the court actually/officially rejected it on these grounds yet? Or are we still just speculating/hoping that it will be?
@mastodonmigration@GottaLaff
So which takes precedence, the bond or asset forfeiture? The bond is only claimed if he doesn't have enough assets to satisfy the judgment, yes? Or is the bond money taken before assets?
I have not seen that they have mitigated this deficit, and I would be appalled if it could be achieved overnight, with no review of their books and such.
@mastodonmigration when it cones time to pay up I wonder if Knight Specialty was planning on transferring tons of uncollectible debt to NY state as payment. That seems like the kind of dirty plotting I am used to by rich business Republicans. The kind of thing that they think is clever.
@mastodonmigration Have I misunderstood here? Trump is charged with misrepresenting the value of his properties, and it seems that the company posting bail for him might not have enough capital -- but now they've re-filed their paperwork and it shows they have? ::raises eyebrows::
@mastodonmigration I was looking all over for info on this last night...on the surface it's just a clerical error, it just seems funny that it's such an important thing that is missing instead of some trivial bit
@mastodonmigration ...it would, I think, surprise no one that he has tried to bamboozle the court with a "which way did he go" bit of financial deceit.....
@mastodonmigration ring-ring ring-ring: hello?
DT: hi Vlad, can you send me a couple of billion bucks? It's pretty urgent so...
Vlad: sorry? New phone, who dat?
This is a civil, not a criminal case. The bond here is required to guarantee his ability to pay the judgment in order to few an appeal. No bond, no appeal and the judgment would become final.
@joeinwynnewood@harriettmb@mastodonmigration
Technically, the bond is needed to stay collections during the appeal, not for the appeal to happen at all. Trump can still appeal even if he can't post bond, but AG James can try to collect during the appeal. The problem for Trump is collecting would mean seizing and selling real property, but he could only recover cash (and any property that hadn't been sold yet) if he won his appeal.
Think Roger is correct. The appeal proceeds no matter the bond. The bond stays collections pending the appeal. Current status is that the bond is in limbo pending a motion to validate the bond surety, within 9 days. If that fails collections can begin, and the appeal can still go forward.