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https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-wants-5-million-owes-003342949.html
Trump wants the $5 million he owes E. Jean Carroll held as cash, not as a bond, in a weird move that saves him just $55,000

In an unusual move that saves him just $55,500, Donald Trump has asked a federal judge in Manhattan to allow the $5 million he owes writer E. Jean Carroll to be held aside as cash, and not as a bond, while he appeals her May sex abuse and defamation trial victory.

It's a highly uncommon move, surety experts told Insider, noting that the only real benefit to going cash is the savings of a 1% bond premium.

"The only thing I could see as a reason for this is they don't want to spend the extra $55,000" to pay for the bond, said Mike Lapre, a senior vice president in the surety division of NFP, a global property and casualty broker.

"I guarantee there are companies that would write this bond for him," Lapre said. He noted that should the appeal drag out a year, the one-percent bond premium would have to be renewed, bringing Trump's cost to $110,000.

"He may just be trying to save a little money that way," Lapre told Insider.

Trump attorney Joe Tacopina filed the request Friday with US District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over the defamation and sexual assault trial.

His law firm, Tacopina Seigel & DeOreo, is currently holding the $5,550,000 in trust, "which is 111% of the judgment amount and is consistent with the traditional security percentage of supersedeas bonds," Tacopina wrote the judge, using the legal name for appeal bonds.

His firm is prepared to "promptly" transfer that money to the court once the judge approves the cash-not-bond arrangement, he wrote.

Tacopina did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Carroll attorney Roberta Kaplan, who signed onto a proposed order for the judge to sign, allowing the arrangement, declined to comment.

Under the proposed order, the court would set up an interest-bearing account to hold Trump's $5.55 million.