Letitia James, the New York attorney general, is raising concerns about the validity of the $175 million bond. This was the bond Donald Trump used in the civil fraud case. The bond was posted following a reduction from an initial $464 million to $175 million by a New York appeals court. As per CNN , Trump faced significant challenges securing underwriters for the bond. Almost 30 underwriters declined to support the bond of nearly half a billion dollars.
Don Hankey also known as the “subprime mortgage king,” said that he went to Trump when he heard that Trump was struggling with a bond of $454 in court. He got a reply from Trump’s team after he approached and then he issued the bond for a smaller sum. Attorney James was not sure about the recent filing submitted to the court. She had her doubts over its sufficiency. Previously we saw her threatening Trump to seize all his assets from his real estate company if he failed to pay the court judgment amount. She pointed out that Knight Speciality Insurance Company, Hankey’s California-based business, is not authorized to issue bonds in New York. The case’s supervisory judge, Arthur Engoron, scheduled a hearing regarding the bond for April 24 on Thursday afternoon.
New York AG Letitia James remains obsessed with Donald Trump…she is asking an appeals court to make Trump and the bond company posting his $175 million civil fraud fine prove he has the money. If the court agrees, Trump will have 10 days to prove the company is solvent. pic.twitter.com/Ef2mXp06IQ
— KTRH News (@ktrhnews) April 5, 2024
James granted Trump’s attorneys an extra 10 days to “justify” the bond. She wants guarantees that the company can meet its commitment to support the bond or make payments to Trump if he loses his legal appeal. Hankey had earlier claimed that Trump had given the whole sum in a trust account that would act as collateral. A financial statement for the year 2023, as submitted to the court by Knight Insurance, showed $539 million in assets and $138 million in “surplus to policyholders.” State law restricts the amount of a company’s total “capital and surplus” that can be invested in a single bond to 10%. This means that such an investment would require $1.75 billion in holdings. With the assistance of the ‘king of subprime car loans,’ Trump managed to pay the $175 million court verdict in his New York fraud case after the billionaire investor approached him directly.
“I had heard that he was trying to put together the $460 million bond. I reached out at that time. We began to have a conversation . The bond got reduced,” Hankey said in an interview with The Daily Mail . “So they thanked us for the help trying to put the larger bond together. So we said goodbye. A few days later they called back and said, ‘Would you come back and do the $175 million bond?'” He mentioned a New York appeals court that lowered the amount and gave Trump ten days to get a bond because his defense team said getting underwriting was nearly impossible.
