Due process and property rights 'being shaken to the core' by New York attorney general's vendetta against Trump - Washington Examiner

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ByElizabeth Stauffer March 22, 2024 6:00 am

Here's what New York Attorney General Letitia James told ABC News in February after Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, the presiding judge in James's civil fraud trial against former President Donald Trump, ordered Trump to pay a massive $355 million fine, plus accrued prejudgment interest dating back to the day the case was filed: "If he does not have the funds to pay off the judgment, we will seek judgment enforcement mechanisms in court, and we will ask the judge to seize his assets. We are prepared to make sure that the judgment is paid to New Yorkers. And yes, I look at 40 Wall St. [a Trump-owned property] each and every day."

In a Monday filing to a New York appeals court, Trump's lawyers admitted he was unable to secure an appeal bond of $464 million to satisfy the debt and begin the appeal process. The motion asked the court either to pause the exorbitant judgment or reduce the bond to $100 million.

The filing states: "Despite scouring the market, we have been unsuccessful in our effort to obtain a bond for the Judgment Amount for Defendants for the simple reason that obtaining an appeal bond for $464 million is a practical impossibility under the circumstances presented. … These diligent efforts have included approaching about 30 surety companies through 4 separate brokers."

The filing also states that none of the surety agencies they contacted were "willing to accept hard assets such as real estate as collateral for appeal bonds." The Wall Street Journal editorial board noted, "This isn't surprising given the recent write-downs in commercial real estate and enormous uncertainty about their valuations, especially in places like New York. Insurers may also fear Ms. James's legal retribution if they provide the bond to Mr. Trump."

This development has left James salivating over the prospect of seizing Trump's properties after the March 25 deadline. But imagine her absolute mortification if shareholders of social media platform Truth Social vote to take the company public on Friday, a move that could hand Trump a $3.5 billion windfall. The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that, although Trump would be prohibited from selling his shares for six months, it's possible he could borrow against his stake in the company. That would certainly wipe the grin off James's face.

Engoron's ruling found that Trump was liable for overstating the values of his assets on bank loan applications to obtain more favorable interest rates, which, as it turns out, is a common practice among commercial real estate developers. New York City is the financial capital of the world, and its bankers are among the most sophisticated and savvy on the planet. They expect developers to inflate property valuations and simply adjust them down to more realistic levels before making their lending decisions.

Significantly, all of the loans were paid back — on time. Not only was this a victimless crime, according to George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley, but during the trial, "witnesses [loan officers] testified that they wanted to do more business with Trump, who was described as a 'whale' client with high yield business opportunities."

As per the Wall Street Journal, a defendant must post a bond to appeal a verdict in New York state. So, even though there are numerous grounds for an appeal in this case, including the Eighth Amendment, which states that "excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted," by setting such an excessive fine, Engoron is effectively blocking Trump from beginning the appeal process.

New York venture capitalist and co-host of Shark Tank Kevin O'Leary sees the Democrats' abuse of the legal system against Trump as an "attack on America." He told Fox News on Tuesday that "the reason this is the No. 1 economy on Earth is because we have laws and we have due process. And we have property rights. It attracts capital from all around the world. All of that is being shaken to the core here. It has absolutely nothing to do with Donald Trump at this point, in my view, and it is completely bipartisan. This is an attack on America. No one is going to put any money to work in New York in these amounts until this thing settles down. The whole world is watching, and everybody's waiting for one thing we haven't got yet: adult supervision."

James's vendetta against Trump may force him to sell properties at fire sale prices just so he can proceed with his appeal. If that were to happen and Engoron's obscene judgment is ultimately reduced or even eliminated, the damage would already have been done.

If such an outcome is a possibility, what investor, foreign or domestic, would risk buying property in New York? Or in any other Democratic-run U.S. city? James is going for immediate gratification here and ignoring the unintended medium- and long-term consequences that will surely follow.

O'Leary is right. Love him or hate him, this is bigger than Donald Trump. The biggest casualty of this grotesque abuse of prosecutorial power will be America. We are losing the one thing that separates us from Third World countries: equal justice under the law.

Elizabeth Stauffer is a contributor to the Washington Examiner, Power Line, and AFNN, and she is a fellow at the Heritage Foundation Academy. She is a past contributor to RedState, Newsmax, the Western Journal, and Bongino.com. Her articles have appeared on RealClearPolitics, MSN, the Federalist, and many other sites. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.