Fresh off victories in other legal cases, Donald Trump on Monday pressed a New York appeals court to overturn the nearly $500 million New York civil fraud judgment that threatens to drain his personal cash reserves as he campaigns to retake the White House.
In paperwork filed with the state’s mid-level appeals court, the former president’s lawyers said Manhattan Judge Arthur Engoron’s Feb. 16 finding that Trump lied to banks, insurers and others about his wealth was “erroneous” and “egregious.”
His lawyers argued that New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit should have been promptly dismissed, the statute of limitations barred some allegations, that no one was harmed by Trump’s alleged fraud and that James’ involvement in private business transactions threatens to drive business out of the state.
So, the issue is that a lot of the assets he does have, have been used as collateral already.
The loan is still in escrow, afik, but it’s likely he can’t actually liquidate those assets (because collateral.) or use them as collateral for another loan (because banks don’t like to share collateral.)
In short he’s leveraged to his neck on his properties, and may not have the ready cash; if that loan were to go poof for some reason. (Like being illegal. I never did catch what happened with that.)