If Trump doesn’t pay fines, his flagship tower may be seized
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Donald Trump’s flagship Trump Tower in Manhattan could be seized if the former president does not honour a hefty fine and a ban on him operating a business in the state, experts suggested.
Mr Trump, 77, was found liable for fraud and issued $355 million (£281 million) in fines by a New York judge on Friday, dealing a major financial and reputational blow to the real estate tycoon as he seeks to regain the presidency.
Judge Arthur Engoron’s sweeping verdict came after a months-long civil trial featuring testimony from Mr Trump and his three eldest children.
He found that Mr Trump’s eponymous company had submitted “blatantly false” information to obtain more favourable loans.
Mr Engoron’s ruling bans Mr Trump from serving as an officer or director of any New York company for three years or from seeking loans in the state.
He meted out a similar two-year ban on Mr Trump’s two adult sons, Donald Jr and Eric, who held senior roles in the Trump Organisation, leaving it essentially rudderless.
His daughter, Ivanka, was removed as a defendant in the case by an appeals court, which found the allegations against her were too old because she left the company in 2017.
Mr Trump’s lawyers said they would appeal the “egregious verdict”, but experts suggested there was little recourse to avoid the hefty financial penalties, which are essentially due immediately.
The former president’s New York portfolio includes the gold-plated Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, 40 Wall Street and the Trump Park Avenue hotel, where Bob Dylan met The Beatles for the first time.
His net worth was recently estimated to be $3.1 billion by Bloomberg’s billionaires index, with about $600 million in cash assets.
He has also been ordered in a separate civil suit to pay $83.3 million to the magazine columnist E Jean Carroll, who accused him of rape.
The financial penalties, if upheld, including the interest owed, could wipe out most of Mr Trump’s disposable cash, or even force him to sell a property to cover the costs.
The ruling is a victory for Letitia James, New York’s Democratic attorney-general, who brought the case after being elected in 2019 in part on a promise to investigate Mr Trump’s business dealings.
