Donald Trump hits $454 million bond deadline. Will Letitia James move in on his cash, buildings?
Monday is former President Donald Trump's deadline to put up a bond or make a deposit of more than $450 million to shield his assets while he appeals a New York civil fraud trial loss.
The New York Attorney General's Office didn't respond to USA TODAY's request for comment on whether Trump had until the end of Sunday or end of Monday before the office may start collecting. The $454 million judgment against Trump was entered Feb. 23, and the 30-day window for Trump to post the appeal bond or place cash with the New York court would expire Sunday unless extended to fall on a weekday.
Either way, New York Attorney General Letitia James could move to freeze up Trump's assets or seize his property very soon.
"If there are bank accounts in New York, those can be frozen essentially immediately if she already knows where they are, and the turnover of the funds in a bank account would be measured in days or weeks," Mitchell Epner, a New York litigator and former federal prosecutor, told USA TODAY.
The purpose of requiring a bond or deposit to cover a judgment during an appeal is to make sure the money is there to collect when the appeal is over. If James collected $454 million from Trump now and he won his appeal, he would be entitled to get the money back. But that doesn't necessarily mean he'd be made whole: if his property were sold as part of the process, there's no guarantee he could buy it back for the same price.
More: Seize accounts? Mar-a-Lago? How Letitia James can collect $454 million if Trump can't pay
Trump claims he has cash while lawyers sound alarm
The $454 million judgment is a combination of interest and the money Judge Arthur Engoron determined Trump got in better loan and insurance terms by fraudulently inflating the value of his assets over several years.
Engoron held Trump and several business entities, including the Trump Organization, on the hook for that judgment. He also imposed judgments totaling about $10 million against Trump's two oldest sons, Don Jr. and Eric, and former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg.
Lawyers for Trump and the two sons told a New York appeals court last week that getting a $464 million bond to cover their judgments was a "practical impossibility." They said in the court filing that 30 bonding companies had refused to provide a bond that large if the Trumps offered collateral that included real estate, as opposed to collateral that is strictly cash or cash equivalents.
"The actual amount of cash or cash equivalents required 'to collateralize the bond and have sufficient capital to run the business and satisfy its other obligations' 'approach[es] $1 billion,'" the Trump legal team said.
Trump claimed in a Friday social media post that he has nearly $500 million in cash on hand, which he said he had planned to use for his presidential campaign. That could undermine his plea of desperation with the court.
More: Donald Trump faces more than $500 million in legal penalties. Will he pay it? Can he appeal?
Seizing Trump real estate
A lawyer from James's office told the court in a Wednesday filing that the Trump complaints were based on the false premise that one bonding company needed to supply the entire bond, rather than multiple companies spreading the risk. The lawyer also said the Trumps hadn't provided documentary evidence about the terms they offered to bonding companies, and should at least have offered real estate for the court system to hold onto during the appeal.
In addition to quickly moving on bank funds, James could seize Trump's real estate, although that process takes longer, and Trump would have added protections for a personal New York residence.
When it comes to property within New York County – where Manhattan is and where the judgment was entered – the judgment becomes a lien on Trump's real estate immediately.
For New York property outside that county, James would need to take further actions to get the lien applied. It looks like she may have had that in mind for weeks: James notified New York's Westchester County, which includes Trump's Seven Springs estate and the Trump National Golf Club, of the judgment on March 6.
James could also go after Trump property in other states through a process known as "domesticating" the judgment in that other state. She would then be bound by that state's collection rules.
Trump complains
In a Monday morning post on Truth Social, Trump questioned why he should be forced to sell his iconic properties, which he called “my ‘babies,’” to secure a bond while he appeals the $454 million New York state civil judgment against him.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump hits $454 million NY civil fraud bond deadline. What's next?
