The Trump Organization is struggling to grapple – and determine – the scope of the recent ruling of New York Judge Arthur Engoron that found former president Donald Trump and his adult sons guilty of fraud.
The ruling, which also revoked the business licenses of several of the former president’s companies, effectively bars these businesses from operating in New York, which could potentially put a significant dent on the financial capabilities of Trump, as the former commander-in-chief juggles the financial obligations related to his continued campaign to become the Republican presidential nominee, as well as the multiple lawsuits and indictment filed against him.
The judge initially gave the Trump organization ten days to come up with a plan for receivership for the affected companies, but has since extended the deadline to 30 days. The extent of the companies within the complex Trump organization that are covered by the judge’s ruling is potentially large – even officials from the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James, who originally filed the civil suit against Trump, said that it would take them some time to go through the order. A court-appointed manager called a receiver, will oversee the closure of the corporate entities covered by the order, which include The Trump Organization, DJT Holdings LLC, 40 Wall Street LLC and Seven Springs LLC, among others.
Trump still has the last resort of filing an appeal – which his attorneys said they will do, post-haste – but should he lose the appeal, the former chief executive could lose a significant chuck of authority to manage his numerous real estate holdings in New York, beginning with his luxurious 40 Wall Street commercial property to his Seven Springs estate in the state’s Westchester County. Instead, the court-appointed receiver would be the one to manage the real estate holdings until the assets are disposed of, usually by means of paying off creditors.
The damning decision stems from NYAG James’s civil suit against Trump and his adult sons, who she accused of inflating their organizations’ value by as much as $3.6 billion in an effort to secure more favorable loan terms from banks, insurers, and other financial institutions. One example was Trump’s infamous Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, which was valued at $18 million between 2011 and 2021 by a county tax assessor, which was then used as the basis for the property taxes charged to the resort. However, for those same years, Trump pegged the value of the property at $714 million on his yearly statements of financial conditions. In his Truth Social post reacting to the decision, Trump even said that the value of the property was “100 times that amount (the $18 million)” which would put Mar-a-Lago’s worth at $1.8 billion.
Trump’s attorney and legal spokesperson for the Save America PAC called the judge’s ruling “fundamentally flawed at every level”.
For his part, Trump was incensed at the decision, accusing NYAG James of being “racist” (James is Black) and of using him as a launching pad for alleged gubernatorial aspirations.
“Remember when Racist New York State Attorney General, Letitia “Peekaboo” James, went after former Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, only to announce that she was going to run for Governor, and she did, but got trounced in the Polls, getting almost ZERO… her original plan was to use the Trump Witch Hunt to become Governor,” Trump said. “This highly partisan Democrat “Judge” (All the Clubs, etc.) just ruled that Mar-a-Lago was WORTH just 18 Million Dollars when, in fact, it may be worth 100 times that amount. James convinced him, likewise, on other assets. THIS IS A NEW YORK POLITICAL SCAM!” the former president added.
Tim Ramos has written for various publications, corporations, and organizations – covering everything from finance, politics, travel, entertainment, and sports – in Asia and the U.S. for more than 10 years.
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