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Donald Trump's financial woes are growing thanks to a series of spiraling legal costs.
The former president and GOP frontrunner is, in tandem, facing legal costs from three judicial rulings.
On Friday, he posted a bond of nearly $92 million in his E. Jean Carroll defamation case after Judge Lewis Kaplan denied the Republican's request to delay the enforcement of penalties. He, instead, had three days to pay the penalty or post a bond for the entire judgment pending an appeal.
In January, the former president was ordered to pay $83.3 million in damages to Carroll, a journalist, for statements made in 2019. He said she was lying about allegations that he sexually assaulted her inside a Manhattan department store dressing room in the 1990s. That amount includes $7.3 million in compensatory damages, $11 million for reputational repair, and $65 million in punitive damages.
On Thursday, Justice Karen Steyn ordered Trump to pay legal costs accrued from suing consultancy firm Orbis Business Intelligence over its claims he engaged in sex acts and bribery with Russian officials.
The firm was founded by former MI6 officer Christopher Steele, who had claimed in 2016 that Trump had been "compromised" by the Russian security service, the FSB and had taken part in "sex parties" in St Petersburg and engaged in "golden showers" with prostitutes in Moscow.
Justice Steyn threw out the case and told Trump to pay the entire cost of the claim, which she said Orbis had estimated to be more than £600,000 ($771,336.00). She said £300,000 ($385,668.00) should be paid by Trump.
Meanwhile, Judge Arthur Engoron ruled in February that Trump must pay $355 million for committing fraud. The New York court held that Trump and top executives at The Trump Organization committed fraud by inflating the value of his assets to obtain more favorable terms from lenders and insurers. With interest, the full payment will be around $454 million. Trump's lawyers are appealing the verdict but the payment is due "shortly" his lawyer Alina Habba confirmed during a Wednesday interview with Fox News.
It has been speculated that Trump may have to sell off some of his real estate empire in order to fully pay the penalty issued to him by Engoron.
James has previously threatened to "seize" some of the former president's assets if he cannot pay the penalty.
Newsweek contacted a representative for Trump by email to comment on this story.
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About the writer
Kate Plummer is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on U.S. politics and national affairs, and ... Read more