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‘Fire Sale’: Turley Reveals How New York Ruling Could Cost Trump Even If He Wins

President Donald Trump give remarks at the Unleashing American Energy event at Energy Department headquarters. (Photo Simon Edelman, Energy Department)

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said former President Donald Trump could still lose “a great deal of money” even if he successfully appeals a civil fraud ruling.

Judge Arthur Engoron ruled Friday that Trump was to pay $354 million and banned him from being an officer or director for any company or organization based in New York for three years for overstating the value of real estate holdings to obtain loans. Turley said Engoron was seeking to deter an appeal of his ruling with the massive judgement.

“It looks like you’re trying to appeal a court order to take your home, but you have to sell your home to appeal the order,” Turley told “The Story” host Martha MacCallum. “And I don’t think that Trump is going to have to liquidate assets, particularly if he goes on the bond route. But to keep up the bond, you lose part of that money, so it would cost him a great deal of money, even if he were to win. But by making this judgment so large, the judge makes it difficult to appeal his decision and it guarantees that Trump will lose considerable money even if he wins.”

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Democratic Attorney General Letitia James of New York sued Trump in September 2022 after she promised to investigate Trump during her 2018 campaign for attorney general. Engoron ruled on Sept. 26 that Trump was liable for fraud, ordering that several business licenses Trump held were to be revoked, but an appeals court stayed the ruling on Oct. 6.

“I would actually ask both the trial court and the appellate court to allow waiver of this deposit because of the enormity of this fine or at least to reduce it,” Turley said. “I mean, this really gets into a point where it’s coercive for parties, where it becomes confiscatory. You actually have to engage in a fire sale at distress prices in order to cover the deposit just to get someone to look at the judgment of one judge.”