Achi news desk-
New York state could begin seizing Donald Trump’s properties if he doesn’t post a bond by Monday to pay a $454 million civil fraud judgment, but it could be well over a year before Trump Tower and other valuable real estate holdings are on the chopping block. .
Seizing the former US president’s sprawling real estate empire, which includes Trump Tower in Manhattan, a 370-acre estate in Westchester and his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, would not involve sheriff’s deputies raiding the lobby of Trump buildings than chiseling the real thing. estate mogul name off the facades.
The process is more like a bank foreclosure, legal experts say. “The ‘seizure’ of property is a bad way to describe it, because it gives the impression that someone is going and grabbing it,” says Alan Sash, a New York lawyer who specializes in asset forfeiture.
“It’s not like that at all. It’s slow and methodical.” Trump, a Republican who was set to face Democrat Joe Biden in the November election, was found liable in February for overstating his net worth and the value of his real estate holdings to defraud investors and lenders. James, a Democrat who brought the fraud case, has said his office is prepared to immediately seize Trump’s assets if he fails to meet the Monday deadline.
It would likely take well over a year to seize and sell the property at auction given the complex ownership structures and debt arrangements of his properties, as well as his ample legal resources, experts said.
Trump has denied wrongdoing and an appeals court could continue to stay enforcement of the ruling while reviewing the case. He said in a series of recent social media posts that he may be forced to sell assets at “fire sale prices” to post bond. The attorney general’s office declined to comment, and Trump’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.
New York law has aggressive civil enforcement laws compared to other states, legal experts say, but seizing and liquidating real estate is more complicated than taking someone’s bank accounts or valuables. James will be able to go after any property Trump owns to satisfy the judgment and would not be limited to the half dozen properties at the heart of the case. But she would need a court to approve the foreclosure of any property, and Trump could object, arguing that it would be unfair for his property to be sold while his appeal is pending. Last week James registered the judgment in Westchester, a New York suburb that is home to the Trump Organization’s Seven Springs estate, as well as the Trump National Golf Club. The removal is an initial procedural step necessary if James is to seize these properties.
