- Trump is being allowed to post a bond for just $175M to cover a $457M fraud judgment he owes NY.
- Trump gets a time break, too: His appeal doesn't need to be fully submitted until September.
Chances are slim that Donald Trump's New York civil-fraud case will be resolved by Election Day, a former state assistant attorney general told Business Insider.
A Manhattan appellate court cut Trump a big monetary break Monday, allowing the former president to post a $175 million bond while he appeals a massive $454 million judgment — his penalty for what a state judge found was a decade of defrauding banks.
The appellate judges also cut Trump a break on time.
The judges said Trump does not have to "perfect" his appeal — meaning have its paperwork fully submitted and ready for oral arguments — until the September court term, which starts September 3.
Kenneth Foard McCallion, a former New York assistant attorney general, said in light of that, there's almost no way Trump's appeals will be exhausted by Election Day.
By then, the original $454 million judgment against Trump will have accrued more than $28.6 million in additional interest.
The total judgment against Trump and his codefendants will have grown to nearly $494 million by the time Americans make it to the polls.
"It will be September or October for oral arguments" before the appellate court, McCallion, who heads McCallion and Associates and mainly litigates complex real-estate cases, predicted.
"We're definitely looking at after the election" for their decision, said McCallion.
"It's really quite unprecedented," he said of the timing.
He argues many cases at the appellate court's first department, which covers Manhattan and the Bronx.
And this court is known for its speed, he said.
McCallion joked that there's a clerk at the court who's fond of boasting about how quickly the court moves.
"I usually have multiple appeals before the first department," he said. "One of the clerks there likes to say, 'There's a reason they call us the first.'"
Trump's lawyers have already signaled they're willing to take their appeal all the way to the US Supreme Court, he noted.
"We could be well into 2025" before New York Attorney General Letitia James sees any money, McCallion, the author of "Profiles in Cowardice in the Trump Era," said.
"I do think the appellate division is shooting the attorney general in the foot by not taking this on an expedited basis and cutting him a break," he said.
Would Trump being president gum up how the collection process works?
"I don't think so," said McCallion, who also worked as a federal prosecutor.
"His legal rights would be neither greater or smaller than as Donald J. Trump, private citizen," at least in state court, he said.