Trump has a history of inflating his wealth, so the insurance firm supporting his $91.6 million bond in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case is taking a significant risk.
As a prerequisite to appealing, Trump had to post the $83.3 million (plus nine percent interest) that a jury awarded Carroll in her defamation case. If Trump’s appeal is unsuccessful, Chubb will be liable to Carroll for the total sum.
In February, a New York court found that Trump had inflated his wealth to get bank loans at a lower interest rate, and the court ordered the president to pay more than $450 million in penalties. Among other things, Judge Arthur Engoron found that Trump had inflated the value of a Scottish home development proposal and his personal New York penthouse.
Many observers feel that the punishments far exceed the alleged financial crimes, with the intention of the prosecution being to ruin Trump’s life completely. The damages to Trump far exceed any damage caused to the victims.
In court papers, New York Attorney General Letitia James said that Trump had overstated his wealth in 2014 by almost $2.2 billion. According to an October 2023 article, Trump was said to have been “obsessed” with Forbes’ list of the 400 wealthiest Americans for decades.
Despite facing over 90 felony criminal accusations and several lawsuits, the former president maintains that he is the victim of a politically driven “witch hunt” and “election interference.”
After determining that Trump had slandered Carroll’s character while rejecting the accusation of assault in a dressing room of a department shop in the 1990s, a New York jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million in January. Newsweek was informed by JD Weisbrot, president and chief underwriting officer of JW Surety Bonds, that Chubb would want Trump to provide collateral equal to the entire $91.6 million for them to support the bond.
