Donald Trump may let Letitia James seize Trump Tower: Insiders Donald Trump is facing a deadline to pay $690 million – and he’s considering an extreme option involving Trump Tower, sources say. March 21, 2024
As Donald Trump faces a Monday deadline to post a $690 million ($US454 million) bond in the civil fraud case against him in New York, insiders said he may be weighing a little-discussed option: Doing nothing.
The ex-president reportedly has been struggling to raise the cash for the bond – either from banks or wealthy friends – with his lawyers claiming on Monday that it was a “practical impossibility.”
While some reports have raised speculation that Mr Trump may “go nuclear” with a Chapter 11 filing to protect his prize real estate assets across Manhattan, experts said bankruptcy would create unwelcome complications as the 2024 election season comes to a head, the New York Post reports.
“He’s been there and done that,” one insider close to Mr Trump said, dismissing the prospect of a Chapter 11 filing.
A third possibility, however, is to let the deadline pass, leaving it to New York Attorney-General Letitia James to seize Mr Trump’s bank accounts or buildings — including Trump Tower, from which he declared his 2016 presidential run, and which famously includes his personal penthouse.
It’s an option Mr Trump appears to have considered – partly because he believes the chances are good that he could recover the assets on appeal, even if he is forced to take his case to the US Supreme Court, according to friends.
“Even if there is a taking, it doesn’t mean he can’t take it back later,” a source close to Trump told The Post.
A decision to do nothing poses risks of its own – among them that the New York AG’s Office has the right to sell off any properties it confiscates in order to recover the cash penalties it is owed.
