CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig believes former President Donald Trump doesn’t have much chances when the former president appeals a judge’s ruling that ordered him to pay an eye-popping sum.
Manhattan Judge Arthur Engoron, who ruled last year that Trump and the Trump Organization defrauded banks and insurers, also ruled on Friday that the former president must pay $354 million for overstating the value of his assets to obtain more favorable terms with banks and insurance companies.
The judge also ordered Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, executives at the company to pay $4 million each, and ex-Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg to pay $1 million. The Trumps denied they inflated their assets and argued that fraud was not committed because no institutions lost money. The former president said he would appeal the decision.
Honig and Former CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin appeared on Friday’s AC360 to offer their reaction.
“What his defense was in this case, which was, ‘I borrowed money and I paid it back,” Toobin said. “‘So, what’s the problem? There’s no harm.’ The problem is that because he lied about his assets, he got lower interest rates to have to pay it back. So, he benefited to the tune of millions of dollars by lying to the banks and to other authorities about how much money he had. He’s never acknowledged that, but this damage award is because he got all this benefit – millions of dollars, lower interest rates because of the lies that he told.”
Host Anderson Cooper turned to Honig.
“The chance of an appeal,” the host said. “Is there one for him?”
“Well, he certainly will appeal,” Honig noted. “I think he has next to no chance of prevailing.”
“He has to put up money just to appeal,” Cooper noted.
“He has to put up a bond,” Honig replied. “Usually, the parties will agree on it. If not, the judge will set it. It’s usually some percentage, and you can secure the bond with properties or that kind of thing.”
He then turned to Engoron’s ruling, which he praised for being “meticulous”:
“He goes through every property, every transaction, and he puts things in the appeal that he knows he cannot be reversed on. For example, assessing how credible a witness is. Did I believe this witness or not? That is uniquely up to the trial judge. You can’t be reversed on that. So, Donald Trump certainly will appeal. I think he’s got next to no chance of winning on it.”
