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National Review
National Review
21 Feb 2024
David Zimmermann


NextImg:N.Y. AG Letitia James Says She Is Prepared to Seize Trump’s Assets If He Can’t Pay $355 Million Fine

New York attorney general Letitia James said she is prepared to seize former president Donald Trump’s business assets if he can’t pay the $355 million fine following the end of his civil-fraud case late last week.

“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 told ABC News on Tuesday.

On Friday, Manhattan judge Arthur Engoron, a Democrat, served the $355 million verdict and an additional $100 million in pre-judgment interest to Trump and his companies over their allegedly fraudulent financial statements. Trump and his co-defendants, including his sons Donald Jr. and Eric, were found liable for inflating his net worth to receive lower interest rates. The court decision was made without a jury.

The former president was also barred from operating business in New York for the next three years. James first brought the case against him, his family, and the Trump Organization in September 2022.

“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 in the ABC News interview, referring to the Trump Building in Lower Manhattan.

“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 added. “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.”

Immediately after the decision on Friday, Trump attorney Alina Habba indicated her client plans to appeal the unjust ruling.

“It is the culmination of a multi-year, politically fueled witch hunt that was designed to ‘take down Donald Trump’ before Letitia James ever stepped foot into the Attorney General’s office,” Habba said. “If this decision stands, it will serve as a signal to every single American that New York is no longer open for business.”

Trump similarly warned that the ruling would cause many businesses to leave New York. James repudiated this claim.

“Last I checked, tourism is up. Wall Street is doing just fine,” the attorney general said Tuesday.

Representative Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) recently called for James to be disbarred or suspended over the “clear bias” and “personal vendetta” demonstrated in her handling of Trump’s civil fraud trial, which lasted from October to January. In the official bar complaint, Stefanik cited comments that James made regarding Trump before assuming office as attorney general in 2019. During her 2018 election night victory speech, James vowed to shine a “bright light into every dark corner of [Trump’s] real estate dealings.”