With Donald Trump’s deadline to secure $464 million only four days away, the New York Attorney General’s office has initiated steps to seize the former president’s real estate assets potentially.
Letitia James, the New York Attorney General, has taken legal action by filing a judgment at the Westchester County clerk’s office against Donald Trump for fraud, setting the stage for the possible seizure of his properties if he fails to meet the court-imposed $464 million fine.
According to the county clerk’s records, the judgment was officially recorded on March 6. This move by the Attorney General is the preliminary step towards placing liens on and seizing assets from Trump, who has been identified as failing to fulfill his debt obligations.
Trump’s real estate in Westchester County, which includes the Trump National Golf Club Westchester and the expansive 212-acre Seven Springs estate, is particularly at risk.
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This action follows a February 16 ruling by a New York court, which concluded that Trump had engaged in financial fraud by falsifying records of his Trump Organization to secure more favorable loan conditions. Trump has appealed the verdict but is required to secure a bond for the penalty amount in the interim, either in cash or through a bonding company.
Trump has needed help to gather the necessary funds or secure a bond. He has petitioned the court for a reduction or complete waiver of the bond requirement, a request that the Attorney General’s office has recommended the court to reject.
After being turned down by 30 bond companies, Trump described obtaining a bond as “a practical impossibility” in a recent legal motion, requesting a penalty reduction to $100 million. The Attorney General’s office has dismissed Trump’s pleas as unfounded and based on unreliable evidence.
This recent development in Westchester County signals that the Attorney General’s efforts to seize Trump’s properties may extend beyond Manhattan, where several notable properties, including Trump Tower and the 40 Wall Street skyscraper, are located.
The value of Trump’s assets, including Seven Springs, a focal point during his civil fraud trial, remains contested. Despite purchasing the property for $7.5 million in 1995, Trump appraised it at $291 million in dealings with Deutsche Bank in 2014, only to declare a maximum value of $50 million on federal ethics filings in 2018, later admitting he had overvalued the property.
