Trump obtained the bond through Knight Specialty Insurance Company, according to a filing Monday night / Photo: Reuters Archive
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. 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 bond were used as collateral for Trump’s appellate bond.
Trump denies any wrongdoing, saying the statements actually lowballed his fortune, came wit h disclaimers and weren’t taken at face value by the institutions that lent to or insured him. 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.