Michael Popok: 'Wow! Donald Trump Bond Company ADMITS it BROKE LAW?!'

Source:Meidas Touch- left to right: California insurance billionaire Don Hankey & Defendant Don.

"The bonding company owner that posted Trump’s $175 million bond in New York against the $465 million civil fraud judgment JUST ADMITTED THAT his company is violating ANTI MONEY LAUNDERING and “Know Your Customer” laws because he DOES NOT KNOW THE SOURCE OF TRUMP’s cash collateral. Michael Popok examines the new bond just filed by a company controlled by a Trump donor, and why the UNAUDITED and stale financial statements filed by them in the case raise new questions about their SOLVENCY that Judge Engoron will hold a hearing about later this month." 

From the Meidas Touch 

"New York Attorney General Letitia James requested Thursday that former President Trump's attorneys or the company issuing his $175 million bond "file a motion to justify the surety" within 10 days.

The big picture: The presumptive GOP presidential nominee posted the $175 million bond earlier this week after a New York appeals court reduced the amount needed to appeal his $454 million judgment.

The state's Supreme Court on Wednesday had sent the bond paperwork back to Trump's legal team for correction without providing any details on deficiencies.

Zoom in: James is asking either Trump's legal team or Knight Specialty Insurance Company, which is not registered with the Empire State's Department of Financial Services, to prove that it is financially able to perform under the bond, court records show.

Billionaire Don Hankey, California-based chairman of the company that offers high-interest loans to car buyers with low credit scores, underwrote the bond.

Trump's legal team had faced difficulties in finding a company willing to secure such a large bond.

The other side: A spokesperson for the Trump Organization said this was "pure harassment," per a statement to Axios.

"The bond is fully collateralized and backed by 100% cash," the spokesperson added.

Go deeper: What to know about Don Hankey, billionaire who backed Trump's N.Y. bond." 

From Axios 

As wrote yesterday about this 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 

As my colleague Fred Schneider wrote about this today: 

"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) has 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."

From The New Democrat

To once again sort of date myself: as a young man, 18-19 in actually back in the mid-1990s, (no, Millennials. Dinosaurs didn't roam in the Earth at any point in the 20th Century) when I was following the O.J. Simpson case, just as an observer, (I wasn't a witness, cop, lawyer, or anything) the entire news media, including the network news divisions, covered that entire story, almost gavel to gavel. Freakin PBS, ABC News Nightline, had pieces about that story, really everyday. Even though it was the biggest tabloid story, perhaps of the 20th Century. 

When O.J. Simpson was acquitted of the 2 murders that he obviously committed in September, 1995, the whole news world almost came to a stop. It was like: "What do we talk about and cover now?" Because they had been on vacation from the rest of the world for the past 15 months or so. 

That is how I feel about Donald J. Trump. Yes, he's good for this blog and my writing. But what the hell do I do if he loses in November (and I hope to hell that I loses everyday) and not just goes to trial in Washington, Atlanta, and Miami, after he's already tried and convicted in New York? He'll be out of the news completely, perhaps by the summer of 2025, if he doesn't win the election this November. I say all of this half-jokingly, but I think you get the point.

As far as this latest bond attempt: Don Hankey's insurance company is going to have to come up with the money and literally prove that they have it and write that check, or Donald Trump will be financially screwed by perhaps as early as May. Unless he has 175 million dollars of cash, of his own, that he's keeping secret right now. 

Maybe DJT is storing that 175 million in that Los Angeles financial storage facility that was robbed last Sunday. And he was the only one who didn't lose his money there. (Ha, ha) But that's my prediction. Either the Hankey company provides the cash and turns it over to New York State, or Donald Trump will be forced to do that himself.

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