NY attorney general takes step toward seizing Trump assets
Written by ELLA LEE
03/21/24 1:52 PM ET
former President Donald Trump is
The New York attorney general’s office has filed judgments in Westchester County, where former President Trump’s golf resort and private estate known as Seven Springs is located — a first step toward seizing the asset.
The judgments were filed with the Westchester County clerk’s office March 6, public records show. Judge Arthur Engoron, who oversaw the sweeping civil fraud trial against Trump and his business, formally entered his multimillion-dollar judgment just a over week earlier.
Engoron ruled that Trump, the Trump Organization and top executives, including two of Trump’s sons — Eric and Donald Jr. — were liable for fraud after conspiring to alter the former president’s net worth for tax and insurance benefits. He ordered them to pay $464 million, plus interest, in total.
Trump has just four days to find the cash to post a surety bond for his portion of the judgment — a whopping $454 million, plus interest — before New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) can begin seizing his assets. If Trump posts the bond, the judgment would be automatically paused while the former president appeals Engoron’s ruling.
James has said that if Trump does not have the funds to pay off the judgment, her office intends to seek “judgment enforcement mechanisms in court.”
Entering a judgment in the counties where Trump owns properties is the first step toward attempting to recover them.
In New York City, where Trump’s trial took place, a judgment has already been entered. The former president’s famous 40 Wall Street and Trump Tower properties are located there.
Trump’s lawyers admitted Monday that he could not secure a full appeals bond due to lack of cash on hand — despite the former president’s “diligent efforts.” He asked the court to accept a $100 million bond, instead.
An insurance broker they consulted, Gary Giulietti, wrote in an affidavit that a company like the Trump Organization has most of its assets invested in real estate, making obtaining an appeal bond in the judgment’s full amount “a practical impossibility.”
But James’s office pushed back on that contention Wednesday, telling a state appeals court that there is no rule limiting Trump to a single bond from a single surety for the full judgment amount to limit “any individual surety’s risk.” The state also noted that Engoron found Giulietti lacked credibility due to an “ongoing personal and professional relationship with Donald Trump.”
The filing was first reported by CNN.
Trump’s deadline to pay the bond is Monday, the same day his first criminal trial was scheduled to get underway before a last-minute document dump delayed the proceeding.
Updated at 2:12 p.m.
TAGS ARTHUR ENGORON LETITIA JAMES TRUMP GOLF COURSE
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