Less than a month after New York Attorney General Letitia James said she would be willing to seize former Republican President Donald Trumpā€™s assets if he is unable to pay the $464 million required by last monthā€™sĀ judgmentĀ in his civil fraud case, Trumpā€™s lawyers disclosed in court filings Monday that he had failed to secure a bond for the amount.

In the nearly 5,000-page filing, lawyers for TrumpĀ saidĀ it has proven a ā€œpractical impossibilityā€ for Trump to secure a bond from any financial institutions in the state, as ā€œabout 30 surety companiesā€ have refused to accept assets including real estate as collateral and have demanded cash and other liquid assets instead.

To get the institutions to agree to cover that $464 million judgment if Trump loses his appeal and fails to pay the state, he would have to pledge more than $550 million as collateralā€”ā€œa sum he simply does not have,ā€Ā reportedThe New York Times, despite his frequent boasting of his wealth and business prowess.

  • dhork@lemmy.worldEnglish
    50Ā·
    8 months ago

    He testified to $400M, and he already put up a $100M bond for the other thing. But the whole point of this is that he overvalues things, right? I bet when his people had to get down to the actual state of the accounts and not what DJT feels they are, it was probably only $200M or so that is liquid.

    Itā€™s not worth going after him again for overstating that in court. Itā€™s too easy to skirt around. His punishment will come when the DA starts seizing and auctioning stuff to pay the judgement.

    • ripcord@lemmy.world
      301Ā·
      8 months ago

      He put up I believe $2m for the other thing. The rest was covered by the bond company.

      So he should still have at least $398m if he claimed 400ā€¦

      • dhork@lemmy.worldEnglish
        214Ā·
        8 months ago

        Thatā€™s not quite how it works. When the bond company writes the bond, they donā€™t just take the $2m from the client and then the client is off the hook. They ask the client to put up collateral. So in order for Trump to secure this bond, he would have had to set aside the full amount of the bond and say ā€œIf the verdict doesnā€™t get reduced on appeal, I am giving you all this stuff, and not using it for anything else in the meantimeā€.

        All Trump is getting for that fee is not actually having to sell those assets now, and have any overage refunded if the appeal gets the verdict reduced. (Given the interest rates right now, the passive income on that kind of cash is not trivial).

        • ripcord@lemmy.world
          91Ā·
          8 months ago

          True, but we were talking only about liquid assets here, I thought. Otherwise, what would the $400m you mentioned be referring to? Or - what specifically did you mean and do you have a source by any chance?

          • dhork@lemmy.worldEnglish
            5Ā·
            8 months ago

            A source for which part?

            Iā€™ve read some different things about what those bond companies will take as collateral. They are not likely to take on real estate as collateral. Not only is it a pain to unload, but the properties also likely have existing liens on them, reducing the value that can be recovered. The bond companies are well within their rights to say that they will only accept cash or marketable securities as collateral.

            • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
              51Ā·
              8 months ago

              With how much Trump is known to fuck contractors I wouldnā€™t be surprised if the liens are more valuable than the properties themselves.

              And itā€™s the fucking contractors that vote for him ffs.