Trump didn’t secure his $91.6 million bond in E. Jean Carroll case from a Russian company

Former President Donald Trump on March 8 posted a $91.6 million bond to cover the amount he owes writer E. Jean Carroll after a verdict in a civil defamation case, which he is appealing.

Social media users began speculating about who secured Trump’s bond and some of them baselessly suggested Russia helped.

"This is the company that bonded Trump. Anyone surprised?" read text on a March 10 Facebook post above a screenshot about the "Chubb Insurance Company of Russia," which lists a Russian address and mentions a Moscow office.

Other social media posts also tied Trump’s bond to a Russia company, suggesting the bond poses national security concerns.

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

PolitiFact traced the language in the Facebook post’s screenshot to an Association of European Businesses webpage about Chubb Insurance Co. LLC. The association describes itself as a nonprofit and the "main representative body of foreign investors in Russia."

(Facebook screenshot)

Chubb is a global insurance company operating in 54 countries and territories worldwide, according to its website. It is based in Zurich, has offices in New York, London and Paris and employs about 40,000 people.

Chubb’s having businesses in Russia does not make it a Russian company. There is no connection between the government of Russia, Trump and Chubb, a Chubb company spokesperson told PolitiFact. 

Chubb stopped receiving revenue from its Russian operations after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Parent company Chubb Ltd. is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is part of the S&P 500, its website said. Chubb has 44 branch offices across the U.S. A fourth-quarter report from Chubb said 59% of the company’s business comes from within the U.S.

Trump’s bond was secured by the Federal Insurance Co., which is part of Chubb. A jury in January awarded Carroll $83.3 million in a defamation lawsuit over Trump’s social media comments about her claims that he sexually assaulted her in the 1990s. The bond amount is higher because Trump would also be charged interest.

Federal Insurance Co. is based in Indiana. A court document listed its company addresses in Virginia, where it has a claims center, and New Jersey, where it has a home office. Chubb’s Russian business was not listed.

Chubb’s U.S. history dates to 1792, when the Insurance Co. of North America was created in Philadelphia, according to a timeline on Chubb’s website. That company was acquired by ACE Ltd., which acquired Chubb in 2016, creating the global company that exists today. Chubb Corp. began in New York in 1882 as a maritime underwriting business, the timeline said.

A Chubb spokesperson told PolitiFact that before Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the company had $200 billion in assets and an $85 billion market capitalization. (A market capitalization, or market cap, is a publicly traded company’s value; it’s derived by multiplying the total number of shares by the current share price.) 

Chubb’s Russian operations had a net asset value of $40 million before Russia’s Ukraine invasion, making Russia among its smallest markets.

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After the invasion, the spokesperson said, Chubb stopped managing the Russian businesses and disconnected them from Chubb’s systems. Those businesses also stopped writing or renewing insurance policies. Chubb no longer receives revenue from those businesses and deconsolidated them from the company’s financial statements, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson provided a statement that said Chubb doesn’t comment on client-specific information. 

In a 2023 letter to shareholders, Chubb Ltd. CEO Evan Greenberg, who served on the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations under Trump and President Joe Biden, criticized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, urging continued U.S. support for Ukraine to stave off "Russian aggression."

Greenberg is facing criticism for his business’s decision to aid Trump. But Greenberg said in a March 13 letter to shareholders that he knows how "polarizing and emotional this case and the defendant are," and that the company isn't taking sides, just fulfilling its role in the legal system.

Our ruling

A Facebook post claimed a Russian company provided Trump’s bond in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case.

The U.S.-based Federal Insurance Co., a subsidiary of global insurance company Chubb, provided the bond. Chubb is headquartered in Zurich and operates in 54 countries and territories worldwide. Chubb has businesses in Russia, but after Russia invaded Ukraine, the company ceased managing or receiving revenue from them, a company spokesperson said.

We rate the claim False.

PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.