How Trump Posted His Bond
In a move that prevented New York Attorney General Letitia James from beginning to seize $454 million in assets for the judgement in his civil fraud case, Donald Trump was finally able to post a $175 million bond on Monday. Last week an appeals court approved Trump’s request to lower the total bond amount to $175 million after his attorneys pleaded that the full payment would be a “practical impossibility” for the former president.
Trump’s last minute Monday bond was secured through the Knight Specialty Insurance Company, a business which is a part of several other companies owned by California businessman and billionaire Don Hankey. Mr. Hankey was placed 128th on Forbes’s 400 List in 2023, and 317th on the magazine’s Billionaire Roster for the same year.
This is the second time Hankey has stepped in to rescue Trump financially. Hankey was the largest individual shareholder in Axos Financial, which was founded in San Diego in 2000, under the name Bank of Internet USA. Axos provided two critical loans for Donald Trump, who used his properties at Trump Tower and Trump Doral Golf Resort, worth $100 million and $125 million respectively, to secure the loans as collateral when the former president was facing a debt crisis in 2022. Those loans are due for repayment by 2032.
Hankey ultimately made his fortune in subprime auto loans, which are loans offered to people with low credit scores or limited credit histories for much higher interest rates than regular auto loans. “Hankey repossesses around 250 cars every day and his debt collectors have been known to spoof their caller ID so it appears that they are calling from the local pizzeria,” Forbes explained in a 2015 article.
“This is what we do at Knight Insurance, and we’re happy to be able to accommodate the ex-president in this situation,” Mr Hankey explained after the company’s involvement in the bond was revealed. “I’d say it’s more of a business decision, but I happen to be a supporter also.”
Hanky also made an attempt to boost the appearance of Donald Trump’s overall financial standing by claiming that Trump had put up the collateral in cash. “It was a relatively low number, and Donald Trump put up all the collateral in cash,” Hanky said. When asked whether Trump also used bonds as collateral for the finalized amount, Hankey feigned ignorance by saying he could not remember the exact details of the deal. Hanky then made a strange statement considering he claimed to have no recollection of the specifics of Trump’s securities saying, “We’re confident that we have very good collateral.”
For now, most of Trump’s cash on hand, or liquid assets have been leveraged against his two appeals in this pending fraud appeal and the E. Jean Carroll case. If and when Donald Trump loses those appeals, assuming he is not able to pay the full amount at that stage, Letitia James and attorneys for E. Jean Carroll would be able to begin taking ownership of some of his most treasured properties like Trump Tower or 40 Wall Street.
James began taking the first steps towards repossession of Trump’s assets in Westchester County, New York, last month in anticipation of the defendant not being able to post the bond this week. It is also likely that any repossession would be delayed by an appeal to the US Supreme Court pending either of these forthcoming court decisions.
Amee Vanderpool writes the SHERO Newsletter, is an attorney, published author, contributor to newspapers and magazines, and an analyst for BBC radio. She can be reached at avanderpool@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @girlsreallyrule.
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It kills me how millionaires and billionaires are so fond of Trump, because (of course) his number one goal is to lower his/their taxes … meanwhile those of us who will never make it to the millionaires club faithfully pay our taxes every year without whining about it constantly. Being part of a functioning society means we all pitch in commensurate with our “wealth,” but somehow the richest among us don’t think this is fair.
This is beyond sketchy. This is the third time he's lent Trump $100M or more.
And, of course, Trump slips the consequences we all face once again.