New York Attorney General Letitia James vowed on Tuesday to ask a judge to seize Donald Trump’s assets — including some of his prized Big Apple properties — if he fails to pony up the $355 million judgment against him.
“If he does not have funds to pay off the judgment, then we will seek judgment enforcement mechanisms in court, and we will ask the judge to seize his assets,” James told ABC News.
The former president will have to cough up the money even as he seeks to appeal Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron’s bombshell decision Friday fining Trump, 77, the mind-boggling amount, James said.
Trump and others were ordered to pay a combined $364 million, with interest included, which totals $450 million, according to the AG’s office.
Former President Donald Trump sits for a deposition on April, 13, 2023. AP
New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a press conference in response to a ruling today in the civil fraud trial against former President Donald J. Trump. JUSTIN LANE/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
James said she is “very confident” that the real-estate tycoon will fail in his appeal of Friday’s ruling, which he ripped Friday as a “complete and total sham.”
The state attorney general added that she will not shy away from going after Trump’s famed 40 Wall St. highrise or his other prime city properties if he can’t come up with money to cover the whopping fines.
“We are prepared to make sure that the judgment is paid to New Yorkers and yes, I look at 40 Wall Street each and every day,” said James, whose Manhattan office is downtown, to the outlet.
Throughout his three-month civil fraud trial last year, Trump and his lawyers repeatedly claimed there were no victims in James’ case, which alleged that Trump for a decade inflated his assets by billions of dollars a year on financial statements to get better loan terms. Trump’s side said he paid back all the loans and the banks to whom they owed money.
James fired back to ABC, “Financial frauds are not victimless crimes.
“He engaged in this massive amount of fraud. It wasn’t just a simple mistake, a slight oversight, the variations are wildly exaggerated, and the extent of the fraud was staggering,” she said. “If average New Yorkers went into a bank and submitted false documents, the government would throw the book at them, and the same should be true for former presidents.”
Trump holds up a copy of a story featuring New York Attorney General Letitia James. AP
Trump has also claimed Engoron’s ruling will drive business out of New York, to which James countered, “Last I checked, tourism is up.
“Wall Street is doing just fine,” she added.
Lawyers for Trump didn’t immediately return a Post request for comment Tuesday evening.
Source link: https://nypost.com/2024/02/20/us-news/ag-james-says-shell-ask-judge-to-seize-trumps-assets-if-he-ignores-355m-fine/