LOS ANGELES.–Former President Donald Trump, 77, watches his real estate empire crumble under the weight of paying a $454 million legal judgment to the State of New York, after sued by New York State Atty. Gen. Letitia James. Judge Arthur J. Engoran issued his $454 million judgment against Trump and the Trump Organization Feb. 16, leaving Trump with a whopping bill to pay. Now scrambling to pay the bill, Trump doesn’t have enough cash on hand to post the surety bond necessary to cover the $454 million fine. While Trump vowed to appeal Engoran’s ruling, Trump is still required to post the fine just like he did with Chubb Insurance, posting a March 3 $91 million surety bond to cover the cost of a civil court defamation judgment by Judge Lewis Kaplan by E. Jean Carroll Jan. 26. When it comes to Engoran’s New York State judgment, Trump’s Attorney Alan Garten says Trump can’t come up with enough cash.
Showing the U.S. press is out for blood with Trump, they pointed to Trump exaggerating his net worth for years, claiming at some point he was worth $10 billion. Unable to come up with over $500 million for a surety bond, Trump shows only that real estate investors don’t keep a lot of cash lying around without investing it in real estate assets. “Defendants have faced what have proven to be insurmountable difficulties in obtaining an appeal bond for the $464 million,” said Garten. Garten says Trump has approached over 30 surety bond companies all of which have denied him the use of real estate assets to post the required cash equivalents. How ironic that New York State sues Trump for misrepresenting his assets when surety bond companies demand cash equivalents. Yet Judge Arthur Engoran concluded that Trump misrepresented his real estate assets.
Trump’s enemies in the press gloat over the fact that he doesn’t have over $500 million in cash to post a surety bond, proving that he misrepresented his wealth, knowing that no real estate investor has that much cash lying around. “Obtaining such cash through a ‘fire sale’ of real estate holding would inevitably result in massive, irrecoverable losses—texbook irrecoverable injury,” Trump’s defense lawyers Alina Habba and Cifford Robert wrote. “While it is my understanding that the Trump Organization is in a strong liquidity position, it does not have $1 billion in cash or cash equivalents,” said Gary Guiletti, president of Lockton Companies who testified at Trump’s trial. Guilettia says surety bond companies have not allowed Trump to used any of his real estate holding as collateral to post a bond. New York State blames Trump for overvaluing or undervaluing his real estate empire.
How can Engoran say that Trump defrauded New York State or misrepresented his assets when the surety bond company doesn’t even take into consideration real estate assets? Trump’s attorneys want New York state to allow Trump to post a lesser amount so he can qualify for at least some surety bond to begin paying his fine. Trump’s attorneys are busy appealing the rulings on the E. Jean Carroll defamation case and on Engoran’s New York State ruling. Letitia James office claims that Trump “will attempt to evade enforcement of the judgment or to make enforcement more difficult,” demanding that Trump post the bond or begin selling off his real estate holdings to post the cash or cash equivalents required by the surety bond companies. Engoran expects Trump to pay interest in all of ill-gotten gains from the date of each transaction in addition to 9% interest from the judgment date.
Engoran’s $454 judgment said that Trump misrepresented his net worth for years, yet not a single company objected or lost money from any of Trump’s financial statements. So, Atty. Gen. Letitia James never said how the state was damaged by Trump financial statements whether the figures were more or less of what was reported. “Donald Trump falsely, knowingly, inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich himself, his family, and to cheat the system,” James said after the $454 million Feb. 16 judgment. James wants to start seizing Trump’s real estate holdings if he can’t post the surety bond by March 25. Trump offered on appeal to post a $100 million surety bond, citing Engoran’s judgment was “untethered to law or reality” with a judgment with “innumerable and catastrophic errors,” said Defense Attuy. Christopher Kise.
Whatever State Atty. Gen Letitia James demands, Trump has not waved his rights to appeal Engoran’s Feb. 16 $454 million judgment. James never proved to the court that Trump’s financial statements, whether inflated or not, have cost any company or investor a single penny. If surety bond companies have trouble determining real estate assets to the point they don’t use real estate assets for surety bonds, it speaks volumes about James’s case that Trump committed fraud because of under or over-valuing real estate assets. Watching the media gloat at watching Trump’s legal misery expose for all to see the extreme prejudice against Trump or his real estate organization. “Of even greater import, we are advised that none of the sureties approached by defendants’ brokers are willing to accept hard assets such as real estate as collateral for appeal bonds,” said Attorney Alan Garten.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
