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416

Letitia James can target any Donald Trump assets "across the world": Lawyer (www.newsweek.com)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

46 comments fedilink hide all child comments

New York Attorney General Letitia James can target any of former President Donald Trump's assets from "across the world" in order to pay the $454 million judgment he owes, according to lawyer Renee Zaytsev on Saturday.

In February, Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump to pay $355 million, plus interest, and barred him from doing business in New York for three years after finding him liable for financial fraud in September 2023 in a lawsuit brought on by James' office. Trump, the presumed GOP presidential nominee in the 2024 election, has claimed that he has done nothing wrong and that the case is politically motivated against him. He has appealed Engoron's judgment.

Meanwhile, the former president has until Monday to come up with a $454 million bond to stop James from seizing his assets in order to pay Engoron's judgment.

MSNBC's Katie Phang asked Zaytsev onThe Katie Phang Show on Saturday about what James could do if Trump can't come up with the bond.

top 46 comments

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Scotland absolutely fucking hates Trump so I think they would be very happy to overcome the legal friction with the sale of his Scottish courses if it came to that.

But I think most likely she'll target US properties & assets first for obvious reasons, in her own state first but anywhere is fair game - a judgement in state of New York is enforceable anywhere even if there are requirements and legal effort to "domesticate" it to target state to enforce it. I will be very amused if Mar a Lago is seized though knowing Trump he'll try to pretend the thing is his "homestead" despite it having non-residential status and he himself only living there through a loophole.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

I really hope she goes after Mar a-Lago, and is successful.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

have the state declare that the golf courses have a fair market value of 2 dozen haggis.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Yeah I remembered the Scots came up with some high grade protest signs. A google image search for 'anti trump sign Scotland' give some real winners. My favourite

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

But targeting anything outside NY is needlessly complicated so it doesn't matter.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I just want her to sieze trump tower and put it up the auction. Then Trump will be confronted by the true value of the property, and the banks will come knocking for the shortfall on the loans they granted based on the inflated value.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

I think I read a CNN blurb article that insinuated that they don't want to really go after Trump's real estate. But they will if necessary. Because it's a lot of work and delays to do, due to other creditors having liens so they feel that the return on the effort won't be good enough.

They want the cash and liquid assets they can more easily get and convert first. And if they get those assets, then Trump will probably need to sell a chunk of his real estate to cover his loans and all his creditors can then start fighting over the carcass.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 7 months ago (1 children)

If they sell his golf course maybe Ivana won't have to keep having divots chunked outta her grave

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (2 children)

That's a clever dig.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

Puns like this have become par for the course

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

So is that

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

barred him from doing business in New York for three years

Where is Truth Social incorporated? If Truth Social has an IPO would sale of stocks be considered "doing business" in NY? Genuinely asking if stock IPOs count as "doing business".

Edit: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_Social Founded by Trump who would also be a beneficiary of any business transactions for Truth Social(?)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_Media_%26_Technology_Group

Owned by TMTG which lists two key people: Donald Trump (Chairman) Devin Nunes (CEO)

Does being chairman count?

"Doing business in NYC" sounds so nebulous. I want it to be a golden shower over all his business dealings. For me to enjoy seeing this scumbag lose all of his ill gotten gains so publicly is not my proudest moment as a human being but I am popping popcorn and getting snacks ready to kick back and relish the schadenfreude.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago

I'm going to wait until Tuesday (or maybe later) to actually celebrate anything.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Just "across the world"? So if he suddenly converts all his holdings to starregistry.com certificates then it's untouchable. Check mate.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

He should most definitely do this.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 7 months ago (4 children)

I just want her to start with Mar-a-Lago.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

It would be interesting because that was one of the properties that had fraudulently inflated values.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Nah she doesn't want that piece of shit.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Been reading there's too many complications (different state for one, more red tape) for the value. They're going for the low-hanging fruit right off, liquid money like bank accounts, working their way up from there.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Been reading there’s too many complications (different state for one, more red tape) for the value. They’re going for the low-hanging fruit right off, liquid money like bank accounts, working their way up from there.

I think it would make sense to seize & sell assets in New York but I bet there are some really complicated ownership deals on his properties and some will be laden with lease agreements, debt, mortgages etc. They might see Mar-a-lago as having a clean ownership making it worth the effort of going after.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

I think it also has been borrowed against to the gills.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Is that legal? I mean, does she have the security clearance needed to repo that one?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It was on the list of properties she was considering so I assume so. I really don’t know why it wouldn’t be.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago

I just wanted to make a joke about one of his many egregious crimes. I hope she takes everything he owns.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 7 months ago

Cab drivers in New York City are now referring to Trump Tower as The Tish Mahal

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Take MAL first.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 7 months ago

Nah, fuck a resort. take Trump Tower. It'd be the most humiliating thing for him.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 7 months ago

Turn it into an immigration welcome center

[–] [email protected] 86 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I live in New York. New York City is Donald Trump's home town, and we've been watching him smear himself across the news since the 1980s.

Donald Trump lost New York City by 90% in 2016 and 2020, and people were literally dancing in the streets when he lost in 2020.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a34607640/donald-trump-lose-election-new-york-celebration/

[–] [email protected] 15 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Spy magazine back in the late '80s and early '90s was basically an NYC magazine and they used to mercilessly rip on Trump. Every year they did a "Top 10 Worst People, Places or Things" list and he was always on it. One year, the only mitigating factors in his favor were his offer to pay for the funeral of a child killed by a bear (which he probably reneged on) and the fact that he didn't run for office.

They also did a prank once where they sent checks for tiny amounts to millionaires to see who would cash them. Trump survived the first round by cashing a check (that he actually hand-endorsed) for something like $1.30, and he was one of two recipients to cash the last round of checks for 13 cents. Dude has been the exact same bit of trash for his entire life.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago

Spy Magazine were the ones who called him a 'short fingered vulgarian.'

His response was to claim his hands were normal sized.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 7 months ago (2 children)

If a man is despised by his hometown, you'd think that would be a huge red flag for voters. Also the fact that a bunch of southern rednecks who despise city people and northerners, got behind a Manhattan real estate developer, and believe he's one of them.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago

Apparently, being hated in New York was a big green flag for many of his voters.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

There are no red flags on the road towards fascism. It makes more sense when you realize his supporters love that he is hated.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Why can’t they get it through their worm-eaten brains that he wants to be loved by the Manhattan elite and that, deep down, he loathes them?

This is purely rhetorical venting, pay no mind

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-fundraising-donor-dinner-new-orleans-con-1320246/

He had a lottery where the winner got to have dinner at the White House with him.

No one ever won.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

In the end, though, they all won... a free subscription to trumps newsletter!

The caravan from 2020 has resurfaced and is going to be at our door step in November! Watch out!

[–] [email protected] 40 points 7 months ago (1 children)

This article is trash, just like most of Newsweek these days. It quotes a single lawyer who says that the AG could seize any of Trump's assets that she wants. That's technically true, of course, but the AGs job is to recover the judgement, and she will go after the most liquid assets first. She would go after real estate only after his bank and investment accounts are seized, as a last resort. All of his real estate is likely already mortgaged up the wazoo (based on inflated values) and it will take a long time to sell, for very little gain compared to the amount of effort put in.

But the DA also has the benefit of a court-appointed monitor who has been running things there, and knows where the low-hanging fruit is. The DA has already put in paperwork in Westchester, where he has a few properties. She might have concluded that if she needs to start taking real estate, the stuff there has the highest actual value that can be realized if it is liquidated.

So it's disingenuous to make it sound like Leticia James is going to move into Trump's apartment at Trump Tower or Mar-A-Lago tomorrow.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (5 children)

I've heard that if there is a mortgage on a property and it is seized by the government that they don't need to pay the mortgage. Supposedly the lender would have a new claim against for the remaining amount on the mortgage.

I don't know if this is true, it is not from a verified source.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

This is the case. Government always gets paid first.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

The loss that the lender takes on a seized mortgage counts as income for the borrower.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The Guardian was reporting that mortgages take priority

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

They're quoting Adam Leitman Bailey, a great real estate lawyer. His Wikipedia page is interesting, he was involved in some controversies, resulting in him not being allowed to do his work for 4 months.

In the article he comments about the Trump case. Which I find odd as lawyers usually stick to what they know.

A bit of an odd person that they're quoting.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I've read that too, but I very much doubt it. It would screw over the lender big-time. In any other circumstance, they would get paid first on any sale of that property. Why should they get cut out if it gets seized? That leaves suing Trump directly as their only recourse. And in case you haven't noticed, that all takes time and is very expensive. It seems wrong for the State to saddle Trump's creditors with that.

Plus, it would effectively give more "credit" to the person whose property is being seized than they are due. If there is a $100M property that has $80M in liens, and he sells it on his own, he will only have $20M left. Why should that change if the State has to seize it and sell it? That would o ly give Trump incentive to force the State to take the properties: he would lose control of fewer properties that way.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

Sounds legit. Newsweek will run the headline this afternoon.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Meanwhile, the former president has until Monday to come up with a $454 million bond to stop James from seizing his assets in order to pay Engoron's judgment.

Besides Trump's properties in New York, the former president has his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, and a luxury hotel in Las Vegas.

"Through hard work, talent, and luck, I currently have almost five hundred million dollars in cash, a substantial amount of which I intended to use in my campaign for president," Trump wrote.

"The often overturned political hack judge on the rigged and corrupt A.G. case, where I have done nothing wrong, knew this, wanted to take it away from me, and that's where and why he came up with the shocking number which, coupled with his crazy interest demand, is approximately $454,000,000," he added.

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