Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial bond was reduced to $175 million after his team cited difficulty in securing funding. However, a report from ProPublica suggests that Trump’s complaints about being unable to afford his bond may have been misleading to the court.
Despite Trump’s legal team calling the original $464 million an “impossible bond requirement” and claiming he’d been rejected by 30 firms he’d approached to raise the money, Trump had already received an offer from billionaire businessman Don Hankey to post the full amount. Hankey reached out to Trump’s representatives days before the bond was lowered, expressing a willingness to use real estate as collateral for the loan.
The bond was ultimately slashed to $175 million and posted by Knight Specialty Insurance Company, Hankey’s business. Hankey suggested that Trump was struggling to secure an appeal bond not because he lacked the liquidity to back the deal but because public companies might not want to visibly back Trump.
It remains unclear whether Trump’s legal team was aware of negotiations between Hankey and Trump’s representatives to post the full $464 million amount. If his lawyers knew about the offer and failed to notify the court, they may have violated ethics rules.
According to the New York State Bar Association, attorneys are bound to the NY Rules of Professional Conduct. Violations of these rules can result in discipline, including admonishment, reprimand, censure, suspension, or loss of license to practice law. Legal experts suggest that if Trump’s attorneys knew of the negotiations surrounding Hankey’s offer as they appealed to the court for a lower bond amount, it would likely be an ethics violation. If found to violate this rule, Trump’s lawyers could face an ethics charge.
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