OAN’s Brooke Mallory
5:10 PM – Thursday, February 22, 2024
Attorney General Letitia James of New York told ABC News that if former President Donald Trump cannot find the money to pay the $354 million fine in his civil fraud case, she is ready to confiscate his assets. The judge’s order to pay the money was issued four days ago.
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“If he does not have funds to pay off the judgment, then we will seek judgment enforcement mechanisms in court, and we will ask the judge to seize his assets,” James said in an interview.
According to James and Judge Arthur Engoron, who penalized him $354.8 million plus about $100 million in pre-judgment interest on Friday, Trump allegedly exaggerated his net worth to obtain better credit terms.
The former president has declared he will file an appeal and denied any misconduct.
Reiterating that her office would not hesitate to seize Trump’s assets—mentioning specifically the “40 Wall Street skyscraper”—if the former president is unable to find the money to cover the court-ordered disgorgement, James said she was “very confident” in the strength of her case on appeal.
“We are prepared to make sure that the judgment is paid to New Yorkers, and yes, I look at 40 Wall Street each and every day,” James said regarding the court process for collecting judgments in civil cases.
James vehemently refuted Trump’s claim that there were no victims in the case.
“Financial frauds are not victimless crimes. He engaged in this massive amount of fraud. It wasn’t just a simple mistake, a slight oversight, the variations are wildly exaggerated, and the extent of the fraud was staggering,” James said. “If average New Yorkers went into a bank and submitted false documents, the government would throw the book at them, and the same should be true for former presidents.”
James also shot down Trump’s claim that a large-scale economic migration from New York will result from the case.
“Last I checked, tourism is up. Wall Street is doing just fine,” James said. “Someone once told me if you want something done, give it to a woman,” she added.
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