Chubb CEO Evan Greenberg said Wednesday in a letter to investors and customers that the company’s $91.6 million appeal bond given to former President Donald Trump had “nothing to do with the underlying merits or with favoring any of the parties” in the defamation case between Trump and Carroll.
Greenberg wrote in the statement that Chubb’s issuance of appeal bonds doesn’t make judgments about the claims, “even when the claims involve alleged reprehensible conduct.”
Trump posted the appeal bond last week after losing a defamation lawsuit filed by writer E. Jean Carroll, who accused the former president of defamation after alleging he raped her.
Greenberg said Chubb is in no way supporting Trump, and added the company is supporting and is “part of the justice system plumbing” involved in the case.
Carroll, who is owed $83.3 million in damages from Trump, can demand compensation from Chubb if Trump loses his appeal.
Greenberg said his firm understands how “polarizing and emotional” the case is and how easy it would have been for Chubb to decline doing business with Trump, noting that it supports the rule of law and still believes it did the right thing.
Contra
Trump attorney Alina Habba told Forbes last week her team is “highly confident that the Second Circuit will overturn this egregious judgment,” while Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said “all of the Crooked Joe Biden – directed Hoaxes will be crushed and President Trump will Make America Great Again.”
Tangent
Trump has also been tasked with paying $454.2 million in the civil fraud case against him and his company in New York. Trump has appealed the case, though the penalty he has to pay will increase in the meantime, amounting to more than $111,000 per day.
Key Background
Carroll’s defamation lawsuit against Trump was filed about five years ago after she accused the former president of raping her. The lawsuit stemmed from comments Trump made following the rape accusation in which he denied Carroll’s allegation and said she wasn’t his type. The case went to trial in January and shortly ended with Trump having to pay $83.3 million in damages to Carroll. A copy of Trump’s appeal bond showed it was underwritten by Chubb, which saw its CEO in Greenberg appointed to Trump’s trade advisory committee in 2018. Chubb has received pushback since it was revealed to be the issuer of the appeal bond, NBC News reported.