Letitia James Is Prepared to Seize One of Trump’s Favorite Assets
Donald Trump has just days left to post the nearly half-billion-dollar bond in his New York civil fraud case before the state attorney general can start seizing his assets, and Letitia James seems to know exactly where she wants to start: Westchester.
Trump was fined $354 million in mid-February for committing real estate–related fraud in New York. With interest adding $112,000 per day, and adding the fines his adult sons also face, the total sum has already exceeded $464 million. James formally registered the judgment in Westchester County on March 6, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
James’s filing did not give a reason for the registration, nor did it specify which of Trump’s Westchester assets she intends to seize, but the registration will make it easier for James to secure liens. Westchester is home to two of Trump’s most valuable properties, the Trump National Golf Club Westchester and Seven Springs, a mostly undeveloped 212-acre estate.
Seven Springs featured prominently in the civil fraud trial. Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that Trump had fraudulently inflated the estate’s value for years—sometimes by as much as five times the appraised value—in an effort to get more favorable terms on bank loans.
Trump was given 30 days from the day the judgment was entered to post bond. That window expires Monday. Unless an appeals court steps in, James will be allowed to start seizing Trump’s assets next week.
The appeals court has yet to rule on whether Trump can delay posting bond or post a heavily reduced one of just $100 million, as he has requested. James urged the court Wednesday to deny Trump’s request, arguing that his claims could not be trusted.
Trump’s arguments, James pointed out, were based on sworn statements by Trump Organization General Counsel Alan Garten and Gary Giulietti, one of Trump’s close friends. During the trial, Engoron determined that Giulietti could not be considered a credible witness and argued that Garten had “professional interests in this litigation.”
Trump finally admitted earlier this week that he has been unable to find an organization that will underwrite the bond for him. His lawyers wrote in a filing that to obtain the bond, they would need to post collateral worth $557 million—which they say is a “practical impossibility.”
Trump’s lawyers explained they have asked about 30 different organizations to underwrite the bond and have been turned down every time. The list of companies they can keep asking is limited, since the bond is so large, and companies so far have expressed an “unwillingness … to accept real estate as collateral.”
The former president has no one to blame but himself for his current bind. His repeated boasts about his personal wealth—despite reportedly only having about $413 million in cash assets—likely contributed to the size of the judgment. And the trial revealed that Trump was in the habit of inflating the value of his real estate assets to make himself look better when trying to secure loans. So it’s no wonder that bond providers don’t want to accept real estate as collateral.