Legal analyst flags massive Trump Tower debt as AG Letitia James threatens to seize his properties
Former President Donald Trump faces a Monday deadline to pay the $454 million judgment in his New York fraud case or post bond in order to appeal it.
Trump’s lawyers said in a court filing earlier this week that the former president has been unable to secure the nearly half-billion-bond despite reaching out to 30 underwriters. New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the lawsuit, rejected Trump’s bid to stay the enforcement of the case in a filing on Wednesday, arguing that Trump waited too late to raise the issue and could try to obtain multiple smaller loans. James previously vowed to seize Trump’s assets if he didn’t pay up.
MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin noted that if James is able to start enforcing her judgment, “don’t expect Trump Tower to top her list” because Trump previously reported in August 2023 that Axos Bank has an outstanding loan on the property for more than $50 million.
If NY Attorney General is able to start enforcing her judgment as soon as next week, don’t expect Trump Tower to top her list. Why? Because as recently as August ‘23, Trump reported Axos Bank still has an outstanding loan on that property for “over $50,000,000.” 1/ pic.twitter.com/FTEbAmglMT
— Lisa Rubin (@lawofruby) March 20, 2024
The loan is actually closer to $100 million, The Washington Post reported last year, and was approved by the little-known bank as other financial institutions cut ties with him following the Jan. 6 attack and the fraud allegations.
Even with the loan, James could “still force a foreclosure sale” and “as long as the net sale proceeds pay off any lien-holders before her, she can use what’s left to satisfy some of her judgment. And then move on to the next property,” noted MSNBC legal analyst Katie Phang.
Rubin agreed that the loan would not prevent James from trying to collect, but her office has “no interest” in assuming the risk of Trump’s illiquid assets, as the A.G.’s office said in its brief.
“The AG’s office is saying it does not want a mess of a fire sale any more than Trump does; in lieu of an adequate bond or cash, they would much rather Trump just let the court hold the assets in a kind of escrow,” Rubin tweeted. “That doesn’t mean Tish James can’t or won’t force a sale of assets like Trump Tower. But as satisfying as some of her constituents might find it, it’s by no means her first or even second preference. Remember that if and when she is put in a position to enforce her judgment.”
