Trump’s Ready For James To Seize Assets Starting Monday, Hopes SCOTUS Will Return Them On Appeal

The $400M in cash that Donald Trump boasted of having just a few weeks ago is either a complete fiction, or the bonding companies have decided that if it exists, it’s simply not enough to cover 120% of the $464M fine (and don’t forget the daily interest of $112,000) which would total $577M — if Trump got the bond today, which he will not. The behavior of the bonding companies seems to indicate little faith in Trump winning his appeal, according to Will Thomas, a business law professor at the University of Michigan, who said “real estate certainly can be accepted in a surety bond, but it’s no surprise that lenders aren’t interested.” 

“No lender, insurer, anybody — they don’t want the real estate. They just want the cash,” he said. “When you’re dealing with something of this size, it’s not surprising to me that, when it comes to these really large funds, they will be very reluctant to take real estate.”

It could also spell a lack of confidence in the former president’s appeal, Thomas said.

“If you think that Donald Trump is very likely to lose most or all of his appeal, you might be reluctant to provide any kind of guarantee for him here, because you might find yourself, basically, stuck with some of his real estate and stuck with kinds of assets you don’t want,” he said.

This is somewhat surprising, or maybe I’m not fully grasping the rationale of the surety companies, that they wouldn’t take a piece of Manhattan real estate, such as 40 Wall Street or Trump Tower as collateral, given the real estate market in New York.

I’ll tell you what crossed my mind and this has to be a factor: Trump must have everything and I mean every thing mortgaged and leveraged to the hilt. Else, why would it not be a sound idea to take a piece of real estate such as Trump Tower as collateral if Trump held it in fee simple, and all that would be needed is a change of title? I don’t think Trump owns anything free and clear, I think he’s in hock up to his eyeballs and this law professor just didn’t want to say that could be a factor in these 30 surety companies not deeming prime Manhattan real estate as an acceptable asset.

Point being, this is the real story here and I hope some investigative journalist gets on it. Trump’s “net worth” is based upon the value of his assets, but if you factor in first and maybe second mortgages, that would change the estimated value considerably. Trump has referred to himself as the “King Of Debt,” so wouldn’t those details be nice? To see who really owns Trump Tower, Mar-a-Lago, etc., et al., before he could go ahead and sell it?

So that leads us to Monday, March 25. After Trump’s multi-post meltdown on Truth Social yesterday, wherein he mewled about perhaps having to sell properties “at fire sale prices” and then “if I win the appeal, they’ll be gone,” the New York post is reporting that Trump is now reconciled to Letitia James seizing his assets, because he believes the Supreme Court will return them to him. Sounds like he’s been hanging out with Mike Lindell, eh what?

A third possibility, [bankruptcy or handing over Trump Tower himself are the first two] however, is to let the deadline pass, leaving it to New York Attorney General Letitia James to seize Trump’s bank accounts or buildings — including Trump Tower, from which he declared his 2016 presidential run, and which famously includes his personal penthouse.

It’s an option Trump appears to have considered – partly because he believes the chances are good that he could recover the assets on appeal, even if he is forced to take his case to the US Supreme Court, according to friends.

“Even if there is a taking, it doesn’t mean he can’t take it back later,” a source close to Trump told The Post.

A decision to do nothing poses risks of its own — among them that the New York AG’s Office has the right to sell off any properties it confiscates in order to recover the cash penalties it is owed.

“They are going after the money and that’s all he has a right to get back, not the buildings — unless the judgment is reversed before they are sold,” said Adam Leitman Bailey, a New York-based attorney who’s focused on the commercial real estate sector.

Sources friendly with Trump say the ex-president believes he has a strong case. Among other considerations, if the decision is not overturned, “it will have a chilling effect on people who do business in New York because it could happen to anyone,” according to one insider.

“There will be severe consequences — not an insurrection. People will stop doing business in New York. No one will take the risk, and lenders are now spooked. The real estate market is already a disaster, with office buildings worth a fraction of what they were once worth, and there are metastasizing effects when a large part of the city’s budget is from real estate.”

One source close to Trump insisted that he could raise funds from wealthy “friends and supporters,” but so far has not chosen this path.

This is not an option. Nobody with that kind of money is going to give it to Trump. Unless it’s Vladimir Putin or Viktor Orban and you know the kind of strings attached to a transaction like that. This “source” said that Trump’s pride is keeping him from “passing the hat” and I don’t believe that for a New York minute. If he had a deep pocket to go to, he’d have emptied it already and then bragged about his business acumen being so sharp that he can raise half a billion in cash in an afternoon.

Let’s see what Monday holds. James will likely begin to seize assets but she won’t sell them immediately. And at that point, we might find out what actual encumbrances are on what assets and how much Trump is really worth.

As Melania says, “Stay tuned.”