Donald Trump reportedly used a bail bondsman after being arrested at Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday, paying $20,000 of his bond set at $200,000 and taking out a loan for the rest of it. The fact that the former president resorted to such a measure has sparked questions on social media about the state of his finances.

  • AFK BRB Chocolate@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    But this isn’t the same kind of thing. When the court sets bail, you give them that amount as like a deposit. When you show up to court, you get it back. Looks of people don’t have the cash though, so they go to a ball bondsman, give them 10% of the total amount, and the bondsman pays the court the whole amount. When you show up to court, the bondsman gets that amount back, and they keep your 10%.

    So yes, it’s a loan, but it’s a really shitty loan. I can’t see how he wouldn’t be better off just paying the full amount himself unless he thinks he can successfully skip town.

    • wolfpack86@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Completely agree with you, however if trump thought he would get more than 20k in returns on the 180k in principle he saved, this also is a good financial play.

      That said, 200k is petty cash for a billionaire. Or should be, if one was.

      • AFK BRB Chocolate@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I suppose a big factor is how long until trial. If it’s less than a year, it seems unlikely he’d get that, but if he manages to stretch it out to multiple years, he’d get that easily.

      • somethingsnappy@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        It’s .02%, or .0002 of a billion. That’s a whoops it slipped out of my pocket while I was changing my diaper kind of petty cash.