New York Poised to Seize Trump Golf Course and Estate in Westchester County
Trump is staring down a Monday deadline to secure a bond or an upstate golf course and estate may be the first properties seized in what could be a slow-moving dismantling of his business empire.
New York’s attorney general appears poised to seize the Trump National Golf Course and the former president’s estate in Westchester County if Donald Trump cannot secure a bond by Monday to cover the half-billion dollar judgment leveled against him for committing fraud.
Earlier this month, New York state Attorney General Letitia James registered the $454 million civil judgment in the suburban county just north of New York City, according to the county clerk’s database. The move, which was first reported by Bloomberg, doesn’t mean James is certain to seize the properties, but it is the first step in a process that would allow her to secure liens on them.
Trump is staring down a Monday deadline to secure a bond while he appeals the judgment, otherwise those may be the first properties involved in what could be a slow-moving dismantling of the self-proclaimed billionaire’s business empire.
In February, Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump to pay $364 million in damages for fraud he committed by inflating his net worth to obtain favorable treatment from banks and insurers and barred him from participating in New York’s real estate industry or running any company in the state.
The amount Trump owes increases roughly $112,000 each day due to interest. As it stands, he owes $457 million. Total damages, including those of his two adult sons and other co-defendants, eclipse $467 million. And the automatic 30-day stay of the judgment handed down by Engoron expires March 25, at which point James could begin seizing Trump’s assets unless the appeals court steps in or he can secure a bond.
A court filing from Trump’s lawyers earlier this week called securing such a bond to cover the damages a “practical impossibility.”
They outlined attempts to seek appeal bonds at about 30 surety companies, including Chubb, one of the largest insurance companies in the world, but kept running up against policies that charge bond premiums and only accept cash as collateral – not real estate. And that required collateral, his lawyers added, is typically 120% of the judgment, or in this case $557 million.
EXPLAINER:
The Status of the Cases Against Trump
Trump has been slamming the process – along with the entire judgment – in increasingly panicked posts on social media this week.
“Even though I did nothing wrong, a Radical Left New York Judge, a true Trump Hater, Arthur Engoron (Are we allowed to speak about his Unconstitutional Gag Order?), picked a number out of THIN AIR,” he said on Thursday, adding that Engoron “wants me to bond it, which is not possible for bonding companies to do in such a high amount, before I can even Appeal. That is CRAZY!”
“If I sold assets, and then won the Appeal, the assets would be forever gone. Also, putting up money before an Appeal is VERY EXPENSIVE,” he said. “He gave us a demand which he knows is impossible to do.”
Legal experts have been quick to point out, however, that this process is simply the justice system working as it is supposed to and that Trump is not being treated any differently – and to the extent that he has been treated differently, it has only been to his benefit.
