With the clock ticking and interest piling up by the day, Donald Trump faces a "nightmare" scenario where he has only about three weeks to come up with approximately a half billion dollars just to appeal a ruling from Judge Arthur Engoron that some legal experts claim he has no chance of winning.
As CNN is reporting, it is not that the former president can't raise the money, but more to what extremes he will have to go, which could include an asset fire sale in a bad market where buyers can take advantage of him or finding a bank willing to take a wild gamble that they might not get their money back.
With the former president having to come up with $454 million to satisfy a financial fraud judgment authored by Judge Arthur Engoron and another $83.3 million owed to writer E. Jean Carroll stemming from two civil trials, "Trump’s lawyers said he may have to dump some of his properties under 'exigent circumstances' to raise cash quickly," reports CNN.
ALSO READ: ‘America First’ is Trump first, Russia close second
As the report notes, Trump is facing some major roadblocks if he wants to avoid the courts and lawyers seizing his assets, one of which is that he reportedly doesn't have up-to-date personal financial info to hand over to any potential lender.
"The sheer size of the judgments raises practical questions about how the Trump could feasibly come up with the cash," reports CNN. "Lawyers say Trump could try to take equity out of certain properties, but if there are outstanding mortgages or existing loans that could make it more difficult because a bank wouldn’t want to be second in line to collect money. Another possible complication: The Trump Organization stopped preparing a personal financial statement for Trump two years ago, so a lender would need to become comfortable with the finances and could request an appraisal of properties, which also takes time."
“It is a really substantial problem. He’s really between a rock and a hard place,” explained criminal defense lawyer Adam Kaufmann before adding, "If he had to sell a property, it’s kind of a tough market, but even if it wasn’t, potential buyers would smell blood in the water and press for some pretty stringent terms."
Fellow attorney Jeremy Saland pointed out that Trump's off-loading of properties for quick cash would also create tax problems for him unless he takes big losses, telling CNN, "There are practical issues. That’s a nightmare. How many properties is he going to have to come up with to do that?”
RELATED: Trump is barreling toward a 'financial disaster' as small donors bail on him: MSNBC host
As for getting a big company to step in, that comes with an entirely different set of hurdles.
According to David Shick, co-founder and president of ProSure Group, "It’s harder for an individual than a company to secure a very large bond,” before elaborating that the use of property as collateral is one option, but could mean putting up $200 million in property for every $100 million to be used for the bond due to "the time and effort needed to sell the property, if the client loses an appeal."
You can read more here.
