Trump has hours to cowl $454M judgment or threat property seizure

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NEW YORK — Donald Trump faces a Monday deadline to publish a bond to cowl a $454 million civil fraud judgment or face the danger of New York state seizing a few of his marquee properties.

Trump, searching for to regain the presidency this yr, should both pay the cash out of his personal pocket or publish a bond whereas he appeals Justice Arthur Engoron’s Feb. 16 judgment towards him for manipulating his internet value and his household actual property firm’s property values to dupe lenders and insurers.

On Monday morning, Trump wrote on social media that the quantity Engoron set was “fraudulent.”

“It ought to be ZERO, I DID NOTHING WRONG!,” he mentioned.

The Trump marketing campaign on Friday referred to as for donations from “1 million pro-Trump patriots,” saying the “iconic Trump Tower” was amongst his properties susceptible to seizure.

The case cuts to the core of his public picture as a affluent businessman. Trump rose to fame as a developer of flashy properties like Manhattan’s Trump Tower and sometimes boasts of his monetary success — despite the fact that his corporations have at occasions struggled.

However Trump, the Republican candidate difficult Democratic President Joe Biden within the Nov. 5 U.S. election, now faces an online of monetary worries together with marketing campaign fundraising lagging behind his rival.

The judgment within the case was entered in Manhattan, the place Trump properties reminiscent of Trump Tower or 40 Wall Road could also be within the sights of New York Legal professional Basic Letitia James, a Democrat who introduced the civil case in 2022.

James additionally has notified Westchester County, simply north of New York Metropolis, of the judgment, a step towards probably seizing belongings there reminiscent of a Trump golf course and a 60-room mansion and property referred to as Seven Springs.

Taking management of Trump’s properties would pose a bunch of authorized and logistical challenges for the legal professional basic’s workplace. Putting liens on them to make sure they aren’t offered or transferred and going after Trump’s liquid belongings can be extra easy.

Trump has denied wrongdoing and referred to as the case politically motivated. The primary former president to face felony prices, Trump has been indicted in 4 separate instances, pleading not responsible in every.

In a type of instances, a New York choose on Monday is about to listen to arguments on Trump’s bid to postpone a mid-April begin date over prices associated to hush cash paid to porn star Stormy Daniels earlier than the 2016 U.S. election.

‘Hearth sale costs’

Within the civil fraud case, Trump’s attorneys have mentioned 30 surety corporations have rejected his requests to publish a bond securing the judgment, and have requested that he be allowed to publish $100 million as a substitute. They’ve requested a mid-level state appeals court docket to delay enforcement of the judgment.

Throughout a 2023 deposition by the legal professional basic’s workplace, Trump mentioned his corporations had greater than $400 million in money. In a social media publish on Friday, he mentioned he had nearly $500 million in money, however meant to make use of a lot of it on his marketing campaign.

“I can be pressured to mortgage or promote Nice Property, maybe at Hearth Sale costs,” Trump wrote on social media final week.

Trump got here a step nearer to a windfall on Friday after buyers permitted a $5.7 billion deal to checklist the corporate that owns his Fact Social platform on the inventory market. Trump’s majority stake within the firm, Trump Media & Know-how Group, is value about $3.3 billion.

However even when the deal will get accomplished this week, it’s unclear if it could assist Trump cowl the judgment. That’s as a result of he beforehand agreed to phrases stopping him from promoting his shares for six months or borrowing towards them.

Earlier than the three-month, non-jury trial in Manhattan, Engoron discovered that Trump had engaged in fraud by overvaluing properties together with his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida, his penthouse house in Manhattan’s Trump Tower, and numerous workplace buildings and golf programs.

This case just isn’t the one one to empty Trump’s funds. Trump this month posted a $91.6 million bond to cowl an $83.3 million defamation verdict for author E. Jean Carroll whereas he appeals. She sued him after Trump referred to as her a liar for accusing him of raping her a long time in the past. He has denied wrongdoing.

Contributing: Jack Queen, Nathan Layne

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