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Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0posted a $175 million bond on Monday in his New York civil fraud case, halting collection of the more than $454 million he owes and preventing the state from seizing his assets to satisfy the debt while\u00a0he appeals<\/a>, according to a court filing.<\/p>\n A New York appellate court had given the former president 10 days to put up the money after a panel of judges agreed last month to slash the amount needed to stop the clock on enforcement.<\/p>\n The bond Trump is posting with the court now is essentially a placeholder, meant to guarantee payment if the judgment is upheld. If that happens, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee will have to pay the state the whole sum, which grows with daily interest.<\/p>\n If Trump wins, he won\u2019t have to pay the state anything and will get back the money he has put up now.<\/p>\n \u201cAs promised, President Trump has posted bond. He looks forward to vindicating his rights on appeal and overturning this unjust verdict,\u201d said one of Trump\u2019s lawyers, Alina Habba.<\/p>\n Until the appeals court intervened to lower the required bond, New York Attorney General Letitia James had been poised to initiate efforts to collect the judgment, possibly by seizing some of Trump\u2019s marquee properties. James, a Democrat, brought the lawsuit on the state\u2019s behalf. Her office declined to comment Monday.<\/p>\n The court ruled after Trump\u2019s lawyers complained it was \u201ca practical impossibility\u201d to get an underwriter to sign off on a bond for the $454 million, plus interest, that he owes.<\/p>\n The company that underwrote the bond is Knight Specialty Insurance, which is part of the Knight Insurance Group. The chairman of that company, billionaire Don Hankey, told The Associated Press that both cash and bonds were used as collateral for Trump\u2019s appellate bond.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is what we do at Knight Insurance, and we\u2019re happy to do this for anyone who needs a bond,\u201d said Hankey, who is best known in the business world for making high-risk, high-interest loans to car buyers with flawed credit histories. Hankey told the AP he has never met or spoken with Trump.<\/p>\n Trump is fighting to overturn\u00a0a judge\u2019s Feb. 16 finding<\/a>\u00a0that he\u00a0lied about his wealth<\/a>\u00a0as he fostered the real estate empire that launched him to stardom and the presidency. The trial focused on how Trump\u2019s assets were valued on financial statements that went to bankers and insurers to get loans and deals.<\/p>\n Trump denies any wrongdoing, saying the statements actually\u00a0lowballed his fortune<\/a>, came with disclaimers and\u00a0weren\u2019t taken at face value<\/a>\u00a0by the institutions that lent to or insured him.<\/p>\n The state courts\u2019 Appellate Division has said it would hear arguments in September. A specific date has not been set. If the schedule holds, it will fall in the final weeks of the presidential race.<\/p>\n Under New York law, filing an appeal generally doesn\u2019t hold off enforcement of a judgment. But there\u2019s an automatic pause \u2014 in legalese, a stay \u2014 if the person or entity obtains a bond guaranteeing payment of what\u2019s owed.<\/p>\n Courts sometimes grant exceptions and lower the amount required for a stay, as in Trump\u2019s case.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s lawyers had told the appeals court more than 30 bonding companies were unwilling to take a mix of cash and real estate as collateral for a $454 million-plus bond. Underwriters insisted on only cash, stocks or other liquid assets, the attorneys said.<\/p>\n They said most bonding companies require collateral covering 120% of the amount owed.<\/p>\n Trump recently claimed to have almost a half-billion dollars in cash \u2014 along with billions of dollars worth of real estate and other assets \u2014 but said he wanted to have some cash available for his presidential run.<\/p>\n Recent legal debts have taken a sizable chunk out of Trump\u2019s cash reserves.<\/p>\n In addition to the $175 million he had to put up in the New York case, Trump has posted a bond and cash worth more than $97 million to cover money he owes to writer E. Jean Carroll while he appeals verdicts in a pair of federal civil trials. Juries found that he sexually assaulted her in the 1990s and defamed her when she went public with the allegation in 2019. He denies all the allegations.<\/p>\n In February, Trump\u00a0paid the $392,638 in legal fees a judge ordered him to cover for The New York Times<\/a>\u00a0and three reporters after he unsuccessfully sued them over a Pulitzer Prize-winning 2018 story about his family\u2019s wealth and tax practices.<\/p>\n In March, a British court\u00a0ordered Trump to pay legal fees of 300,000 pounds<\/a>\u00a0($382,000) to a company he unsuccessfully sued over the so-called Steele dossier that contained salacious allegations about him. Trump said those claims were false.<\/p>\n Trump could eventually generate cash by selling some of the\u00a0nearly 60% of stock<\/a>\u00a0he owns in his newly public social media company, Trump Media & Technology Group \u2014 but that would be a longer-term play. Trump\u2019s stake could be worth billions of dollars, but a \u201clock-up\u201d provision prevents insiders like him from selling their shares for six months.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSubscribe to the new Fortune CEO Weekly Europe newsletter to get corner office insights on the biggest business stories in Europe. Sign up<\/a> for free.<\/div>\n