New York appeals court has given Donald Trump 10 more days to post his bond as he appeals the civil fraud judgment against him and cut the amount necessary to $175 million.

It’s a major lifeline for the former president, who, along with his adult sons and his company, were fined more than $464 million, including interest, after Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump and his co-defendants fraudulently inflated the value of his assets.

The ruling staves off the prospect, for now, of New York Attorney General Letitia James seeking to seize the former president’s property to enforce the judgment against him. Trump had been struggling to come up with the means to post a bond of more than $500 million, the total that he would have needed before Monday’s appellate decision.

The ruling stated that the $175 million bond will be in place until at least September, meaning James won’t be able to seek to enforce the judgment against Trump until then.

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    And he has 10 more days, at which point it’s likely to get moved back again.

    If Trump had a couple ounces of pot he’d have been in jail this whole time.

    Our justice system is fucked and neither party want to actually hold the rich accountable. Because the people who can do anything are rich.

    We need to stop acting like some of these wealthy assholes have the average Americans best interest at heart.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        I really shouldn’t take the time to explain because I can already tell from your comment this won’t be productive…

        But:

        The point you missed was how punishment is wildly disproportionate, so in lots of places, a couple ounces of pot would get higher sentences for all those crimes you rattled off.

        And the people who are arrested for a few ounces of pot, rarely have the money for lawyers to get out of it.

        I really didn’t think it would be hard to infer any of that, but man have I been overestimating Lemmy recently. It really feels like the longer this goes on, the more hand holding needs done in comments.

        • Crackhappy@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Thank you for taking the time and effort to explain it, as you’re right, inference is lost on the willfully stupid.

        • AmidFuror@fedia.io
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          8 months ago

          I really shouldn’t have to take the time to explain, but the parent comment was poorly written.

          If Trump had a couple ounces of pot he’d have been in jail this whole time.

          What you actually meant (according to your follow-up) was that if it had been someone poor with a couple ounces of pot, that person would have been in jail this whole time. But you wrote Trump, and then someone logically thought, “No, Trump would get away with that too.”

          The fediverse would be better if i) commenters were a bit more careful with their wording or ii) they didn’t pounce on people rudely for misunderstanding them.

          I hope this was productive.

          • Halosheep@lemm.ee
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            8 months ago

            Unproductive. Your inability to read intention is not the fault of the original commenter.

        • NegativeLookBehind@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          You failed to mention that he’d also have to be poor for a weed charge to matter. Fuck inferences, you should be explicit in your explanation. But go ahead and be a total asshole if you want. I’m sure it’s par for the course.

      • Wrench@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Or the open and liberal distribution of controlled substances while he was in the Whitehouse.

  • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    What a disappointment. And people wonder why US citizens keep losing trust in the state.

  • cbAnon0@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Did some further reading on this.

    Trump is appealing the James ruling. While the appeal is under review, he was still required to pay the penalty amount as a bond to stave off the possibility of the state seizing his assets.

    While the bond amount has been reduced to $US175 million. The full penalty still stands if his appeal against the ruling fails!

    • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Entirely expected once you understand that we’re all living in capitalist oligarchies masquerading as “democracies”.

      Our politics. Our rule of law. Our national security. All of it is structured around the profit motive of capitalism, and all of it is designed to benefit the highest bidder(s).

  • magnetosphere@fedia.io
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    8 months ago

    I was expecting some kind of last-minute shenanigans like this. Oh well. It’s still been fun watching him absolutely lose his shit over the last few days.

  • LEDZeppelin@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Only if you can be white and rich and male, “Justice” system will let you do anything and get away with it.

    • nonailsleft@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      Do you have examples of poor hispanic women that didn’t get their bond reduced in this fashion?

    • quindraco@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      Have you ever looked at the numbers? Our system is sexust against men - men consistently serve longer sentences than women, including being incarcerated at all.much more often than women are. Being male is bad for you in court.

  • antihumanitarian@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    It’s not really special treatment. Generally, it’s understood that the defendant will use a bond company and put up a fraction of the cash. They are trying to balance the defendants appeal rights with not postponing the judgement forever. He’s actually tying up significantly more money this way than he would with a bond.

    The actual judgement, should he lose appeal, isn’t reduced.

    • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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      8 months ago

      The actual judgement, should he lose appeal, isn’t reduced.

      That’s a very important take-away.

      Though it is still frustrating that he’s managed to delay the entire process yet again.

    • exanime@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      2 days ago he claimed publicly he had 500 millions cash… Why cut him a break when, by his own statement, he can pay his own bond or back it up?

      This is nothing but special treatment… Bear in mind they also loosened a ton of other conditions: grifter kids don’t have to pay their $5 million bonds either, they can continue to first in NY until appeal , etc… none of those have anything to do with your justification for lowering the bond

  • coyootje@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    I wonder how the Trump fanboys are going to spin this advantagous decision as if the government is out to get him.

  • 3volver@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Our judicial system is designed to be weak against the wealthy, here’s a clear example. They’d never give someone poor such a break.

  • shalafi@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    I always try to see the court’s side on these things. INAL, and most times we get a warped story from the headlines.

    I am seeing nothing here. What exactly was the legal excuse?