Trump cannot find a guarantor for the money he must pay to the New York court

(Patria) - Donald Trump cannot find a private company to guarantee the $464 million he must pay in the New York civil fraud case, the BBC reported.

The former president must either pay the full amount in cash or secure a guarantee to continue with his appeal. Trump said that securing a bond of this size is "practically impossible." He faces the prospect of some of his properties being liquidated unless he pays.

In exchange for a fee, a bonding company would guarantee the full amount to the New York court. They would then have to pay it if Trump loses his appeal and cannot do so himself. Trump said the bond he was asked to pay would be "impossible for any company, including one as successful as mine."

"Bonding companies have never heard of such a bond, of this size," he said.

Trump's team spent "countless hours negotiating with one of the largest insurance companies in the world," his lawyers wrote in a court filing. But they concluded that "very few bonding companies would consider bonds of anything approaching that size." The lawyers said they had approached 30 companies without success.

The former president's two eldest sons also have to pay millions of dollars in the case. Along with the order for Trump to pay the penalty, Judge Arthur Engoron banned him from running any business in the state for three years after finding that he had falsely inflated his assets to secure better loans. The judge last month stayed Trump's business ban but rejected his offer to secure a smaller guarantee amount, $100 million, to cover the penalty.

In the filing, Trump's lawyers included a statement from the president of a private insurance company, who said that "simply put, a bond of this size is rarely, if ever, seen." An unprecedented legal situation for Trump makes it difficult to predict the next steps, said former federal prosecutor Diana Florence, who also said that penalties of this magnitude are usually imposed on large companies. His legal team is playing a game of delay while appealing the verdict, she said, but now he is "perhaps out of rope."

New York's Attorney General has vowed to seize Trump's assets if he does not pay the fraud verdict. Interest on the penalty accrues at a minimum of $112,000 per day until he pays. Trump's lawyers said that bonding companies will not accept "assets such as real estate as collateral" for a bond, but only cash or "cash equivalents," such as investments that can be quickly liquidated.

According to Forbes estimates, Trump is worth about $2.6 billion. He testified last year that he had $400 million in liquid assets.

The $464 million verdict is not his only expense. He was ordered to pay $83 million in January after losing a defamation case to E Jean Carroll, a woman he was found to have sexually abused. He has already provided a guarantee in that case. Trump had another legal setback on Monday in one of the four criminal cases he faces.

A New York judge rejected the former president's bid to block two key witness testimonies in a case in which he is accused of falsifying business records to conceal a hush-money payment. Judge Juan Merchan said Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer, and Stormy Daniels, an adult film star, could testify at the trial, which could begin in April.