New York Attorney General Letitia James is seeking to enforce a $464 million civil fraud judgment against Donald Trump by next week.
If Trump fails to pay or secure a bond, James may freeze assets, collect rents from Trump properties, and potentially seize and auction buildings like Trump Tower and 40 Wall Street.
“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 said.
However, unwinding Trump’s finances through his web of LLCs will be complex. While Trump claims a net worth over $10 billion, valuations are uncertain.
“You can’t just say, ‘It’s Trump Tower, so I’m going to take it,'” New York judgment enforcement attorney Steven Yudin noted. “I’m sure Donald Trump does not own Trump Tower in his own name; you would have to unravel that.”
“Billions of dollars of value, billions of dollars in properties, but they’d like to take the cash away, so I can’t use it on the campaign,” Trump said.
His lawyers argue selling properties preemptively could harm appeals efforts, though James says Trump’s assets are less valuable than claimed.
Legal experts say seizing buildings would be lengthy, and James may pursue other avenues first like garnishing rents, though Trump will likely resist enforcement through legal challenges.
“The Attorney General’s latest filing demonstrates her continued willingness to misrepresent the facts and misconstrue applicable law in her political crusade against President Trump,” Trump’s attorney Chris Kise said.
“That’s going to be a long process, and it’s not going to happen overnight,” attorney Kevin O’Brien said. “These properties are huge, they have debt … and they have tenants.”
“You could subpoena the judgment debtor and require him to give his tax returns and all sorts of documents concerning his financial condition and assets,” attorney Peter Agulnick said.
“People like him have a lot of layers of ownership, so it’s going to take some effort to unravel that and get his assets,” attorney Yudin said.
“The more unique the asset, the more you probably want a receiver,” judgment collection attorney Kenneth Katz said. “A sheriff is not going to go out and try and find buyers; they’re just going to say, ‘Six weeks from now, we’re going to sell this building, anyone who is interested will show up.'”
“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,” James said.
“There are things to do to slow the process down. You’re always going to be met with roadblocks and resistance,” Yudin said.
“While it is my understanding that the Trump Organization is in a strong liquidity position, it does not have $1 billion in cash or cash equivalents,” Trump’s broker wrote.
“Once you scramble the egg, you can’t unscramble. If he’s forced to put these properties on the block now, what if he wins the appeal?” O’Brien said.
“There’s an irony about a situation where he had been puffing up his net worth, and now when it serves the opposite purpose, his incentive is to basically beat them down to say, ‘I have very few assets under my control,'” said Columbia law professor Eric Talley.
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