Harry Litman: 'Donald Trump's MASSIVE Bond Could FALL APART'

Source:Harry Litman- left to right: California insurance billionaire Don Hankey, Defendant Don & New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"New York Attorney General Letiticia James is questioning the legitimacy of Trump's $175 million bond, sponsored by billionaire subprime loan mogul Don Hankey. Accoridng to James, Hankey's California-based company Knight Insurance Group might not have the legal right to cover bond obligations in New York State. Judge Arthur F. Engoron has tentatively set a hearing for 4/22 to discuss." 

From Harry Litman

"New York attorney general Letitia James is asking to contact Donald Trump's court-appointed monitor to get more information about his $175 million bond posting.

James asked Manhattan Judge Arthur Engoron on Thursday to confirm that her office can contact Barbara Jones, whom the New York Supreme Court Justice appointed to oversee the finances of Trump's parent company, The Trump Organization.

James filed a proposed order to Engoron in which James' office would be allowed to communicate with Jones' office without Trump's lawyers being present.

The New York Superior Court rejected Trump's $175 million bond this week due to the paperwork from the insurance company issuing the bond not providing sufficient information about its financial status." 

From Newsweek 

"Attorneys for former president Donald Trump have resubmitted his $175 million bond for his civil fraud judgment in New York Thursday, following a rejection by the court.

Trump's initial bond, posted on Tuesday, was rejected and returned for correction, as reflected by the New York County Supreme Court's website, due to a missing financial statement and other documentation. These missing documents have been added in a new filing.

The financial statement comes from Knight Specialty Insurance Company, the underwriter for the bond. It is signed by Don Hankey, the billionaire chairman and CEO of Hankey Group, and Amit Shah, president of Knight Specialty Insurance. The statement assures that the company can cover the $175 million bond.

The bond averts the immediate risk of Trump's properties and assets being seized by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Trump has been ordered to pay a $464 million judgment by New York Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron after being found guilty of business fraud. 

The presumptive Republican nominee for president has appealed the judgment, arguing that the penalty is excessive. However, he is required to post bond while the appeal is mulled by the appellate court. He was originally ordered to pay the judgment in full. If he was unable to, James warned that she would take legal action to seize his properties and assets.

The New York Court of Appeals later granted him additional time to come up with the funds for the bond, and lowered the amount he was required to post to $175 million.

The former president posted a $91.6 million bond in another civil case last month. That bond was related to the defamation judgment against him in the case brought forward by writer E. Jean Carroll." 

From UPI

As my colleague Kire Schneider pointed out yesterday: 

"So to put this in plain English, or perhaps in dirty English: New York Attorney General Letitia James is challenging Donald J. Trump's bond here. And if NYAG wins that, this bond will get rejected by the New York County courts and he'll perhaps get another extension to post another bond, or perhaps they would rule that he's already had plenty of time to post a legitimate bond and give Defendant Trump a choice: post the cash himself, or start selling some of his assets." 

From The New Democrat

I don't like posting multiple links on a blog post that contradict each other. But this is a fast moving story. Sort of like an escaped inmate on the run for his life, escaping in a sports car. But Harry Litman seems to be a little bit behind on this story. 

Donald Trump post his bond thanks to California (not New York, which a story right there) insurance billionaire Don Hankey earlier this week. But then New York Attorney General Letitia James challenged that legitimacy of that and wants to know whether or not Mr. Hankey is actually good on the bond. Does he or his company have the 175 million or not. She won that motion in New York Superior Court yesterday. But then that court sends the bond back to Mr. Trump and apparently he got it corrected. 

I think MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle (who I'm quickly becoming a big fan of for her knowledge about business and economics, as well as her very quick wit, and other personal reasons that I won't get into here) had the best commentary about this story so far. Last night she said talking about Mr. Trump's bond here: 

"It's not just a regular bank that's backing him (referring to Donald Trump) here. This guy (referring to Don Hankey) is in the business that he's always been in. I mean subprime auto lending, this is like the former President of the United States going to a payday lender. Like the riskiest low-end lender." 

From MSNBC. 

Right, I mean, Donald J. Trump still calls himself a billionaire. But of course anyone whose currently not drunk, high, insane, born without a brain, who just flew in to Planet Earth from Planet Zorton (or some other far out made up planet) who also happens to be familiar with Donald J. Trump, knows he's not a billionaire. 

You don't go to the rich man's equivalent of a payday lender, (to use Stephanie Ruhle's words) to come up with 175 million, to post a bond on a legal judgement against you, if you are a billionaire. It would be like a guy who has 100 bucks on him, who ask his buddy for 10 bucks, so he can get some lunch at some fast food joint. 

When it comes to high class in America, especially in Manhattan, New York, where Donald J. Trump has always wanted to be a member of that very exclusive club of billionaires, (as much as he claims to be a populist) he's like the Goddard Bolt (played by Mel Brooks) character from the movie Life Stinks (1991) where he plays a rich man one day and he's completely broke and homeless the next day. Mr. Trump is now relying on real-life billionaires and rich people, to pay his own damn bills for him.

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