Earlier this year, a New York judge issued a $454 million civil fraud judgment against Donald Trump after determining that he had fraudulently inflated the value of his assets, including his elite golf courses, in order to secure more favorable loan and insurance rates. And it sounds like the judge has no intentions of dropping those charges.
Last month, Trump’s attorney, D. John Sauer, asked New York Attorney General Letitia James to drop the civil fraud case against Trump, suggesting it would “cure” partisan divides and improve “the health of our Republic” after Trump won the 2024 election.
However, this week, James made it clear that she had no intention of doing so.
In a letter to Trump’s lawyer on Tuesday, a representative for James confirmed that Donald Trump would still be held accountable for the judgment even as he prepares to take office as the President of the United States next month.
The letter pointed out that because presidents do not have immunity from civil litigation, James intends to enforce her judgment against Trump during his appeal of the case.
“The ordinary burdens of civil litigation do not impede the President’s official duties in a way that violates the U.S. Constitution,” wrote New York Deputy Solicitor General Judith Vale in a letter to Sauer, according to ABC News.
This is obviously bad news for Trump, not only because of the enormous sum involved but also because it could potentially lead to the loss of his golf courses.
If Trump loses his appeal and is unable to raise the necessary funds, courts may begin seizing properties and assets deemed to have “fraudulent” and “misleading” values. These assets include several of his golf courses.
In fact, Trump admitted earlier this year that this judgment might force him to “mortgage or sell” some of his assets—potentially including his golf courses—at what he called “Fire Sale prices” to cover the debt. James even took initial steps to seize one of those golf courses earlier this year.
Clearly, this is terrible news for the president-elect, and it sparked numerous reactions in the comments of the story.
“This will be a good thing — no one is above the law,” one person said in the comments on NewsBreak.
“Good! He is NOT above the law, no matter what they say or do!” another person said.
“He should have to still pay it — every other American has to pay restitution, why shouldn’t he?” another person added.
“He doesn’t care, he’ll just send out a text to all of his cult members and they’ll pay it off. A fool and his money soon part, but in this case, there are millions of them,” someone else joked.
“The money Trump owes on his NY judgment is not a fine for lying to the banks about the value of his mortgaged properties. The money is a conservative estimate of how much more taxes Trump would have paid to NY State if he had kept honest business records. These millions are what he stole from NY taxpayers. That’s why NY DoJ wants him to pay what he owes,” someone else added.
“Good! Nobody is above the law,” another person wrote.
“Thank you, Letitia James. At least someone had a spine,” someone else wrote.
Trump has hosted numerous PGA Tour and LIV Golf events on his prestigious courses over the years and has hopes of one day hosting a major championship at one of his courses in the future. That obviously could not happen if he loses them.
[ABC News]
