Trump is complaining no one will give him a bond to cover his fines while he appeals the court decision against him for business fraud. The deadline is approaching where he either has to come up with something — or New York State will come in and seize enough of his properties to cover it.
Last month, Trump was ordered to pay $355 million in disgorgement, or “ill-gotten gains,” by New York Judge Arthur Engoron in a civil fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Engoron wrote in his 93-page decision that Trump and his co-defendants – including his adult sons – were liable for fraud, conspiracy and issuing false financial statements and false business records, finding that the defendants fraudulently inflated the value of Trump’s assets to obtain more favorable loan and insurance rates.
With interest and other issues, the actual amount is around $500 million. So, where would you start?
Trump Tower is where it all started, when he came down the golden escalator while paid actors cheered. It would be highly symbolic if that’s where it all began to unravel.
James has jokingly mentioned walking past one of his other buildings every day, at 40 Wall Street, with an eye on taking it over. It certainly looks like a nice piece of real estate.
What might be interesting would be if James targeted one of Trump’s signature kinds of properties — his golf courses. Seizing Trump National Golf Club Westchester would certainly make a point. There’s also the Trump National Golf Club Hudson Valley. While selling them might be one way to collect on the fines imposed on Trump, another way to use them could be to operate them as part of the state park system...
Mrs. Betty Bowers, America’s Best Christian, posted a fun fact on Facebook:
According to Wikipedia, Mar-a-Lago had been bequeathed to the National Park Service by Marjorie Merriweather Post upon her death in hopes that it would be used as a winter White House or serve some other government function, but the upkeep proved too much and it was returned to the Post family foundation. They ended up selling it to Trump as Bowers describes it above.
Ironically, it did end up being used as the Winter White House by Trump — who also continued to operate it as a private club — with some notable security shortcomings. Trump has claimed it is now worth $1 billion — talk about inflation! He has now declared it his permanent residence, and turned it into the de facto headquarters of the Republican Party.
If Bowers is correct, the LLC controlling ownership of the property is registered in New York — which means James could seize it. Although the value is probably nowhere near what Trump claims, it could certainly go part of the way of meeting the bill. There’s also the message that seizing it would send, which would address those concerns about two kinds of justice in this country. (We might also finally make sure that there are no more stolen documents tucked away anywhere.)
This could all be moot if Trump finds an arrangement to bail him out that would also be acceptable to the court, or if he succeeds in getting a delay, or gets allowed to post a reduced bond. Theoretically Jared and Ivanka are wealth enough on paper to bail him out — but have shown no signs of doing so.
Will Trump once more evade the consequences of his actions? Will the legal system once more show the law is different if you are rich and powerful? Stay tuned.