New York Attorney General Letitia James is challenging the $175 million bond posted by former President Donald Trump in his valuation fraud case by questioning the qualifications of the California company that put up the funds.
According to a New York Times report, Trump posted a $175 million bond from Knight Specialty Insurance Company after an appeals court lowered the bond level from the full $454 million judgment levied in his trial. James had threatened to begin seizing Trump’s assets if he failed to post a bond.
In a court filing on Thursday, James claimed Knight was not registered to issue appeal bonds in New York and demanded that either the company or Trump’s lawyers file paperwork to “justify” the bond within 10 days. In her filing, James noted Knight never posted a similar court bond before assisting the former president and asked if it could fulfill its obligation to pay the $175 million in the event Trump defaulted.
The judge in the case, Arthur Engoron, tentatively scheduled a hearing for April 22 to discuss the bond.
Amit Shah, the CEO of Knight Insurance Group, stated in an interview that his company had the authority to issue the bond through Excess Line Association of New York, a nonprofit created by New York State. Christopher M. Kise, one of Trump’s lawyers, called James’ complaint a “baseless and vindictive political crusade” that was designed “to stir up some equally baseless public quarrel in a desperate effort to regain relevance.”
