Appealing a New York civil case ppeal still means he's locking up a lot of his assets.

The New York laws around civil case appeals, like a lot of US states, requires a bond to prevent dead-beats from appealing ,attempting to pervert justice.

Trump's not the first dead-beat to try an appeal; and he ain't going to be the last dead-beat to try.

And remember, in the US, politicians are the best money can buy. The politician can spend the most on his campaign is almost certainly the winner. Any bonds will be directly competing with his presidential run for funds.

There's already rumors that no bondmen will touch, due to Trump's unrealistic valuations. So it's likely he'll be selling a large chunk, if not all, of stocks and bonds at the very least (was worth $400 million).

ABC News: After his latest court ruling, Trump could now face $540 million in fines. Does he have the money to pay?
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While Trump's donors have largely footed the bill for his campaign expenses -- with Trump's political committee spending more than $50 million on his campaign in 2023 -- the legal cases present a stickier challenge for Trump, who has built a reputation around his wealth. Courts allow defendants multiple mechanisms to collect damages, including liens and wage garnishments, and the fines are not dischargeable through traditional protections like bankruptcy.

Multiple legal experts who ABC News spoke with suggested that Trump is unlikely to front the fines immediately, and will instead opt to delay any payment using a bond secured by his assets until after he exhausts his appeal options.

"You can post the full amount yourself or you can get a bond posted by a third party," according to former federal prosecutor Josh Naftalis. "You can kind of think of it as insurance, with a third party on the hook and you pay a portion."
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