Donald Trump won't be able to fiddle with assets or hide money should New York City Justice Arthur Engoron order him to pay $370 million in his civil fraud case this week, MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin has explained.
Rubin took to X Wednesday to explain the vital role Barbara Jones, the court-appointed former judge overseeing Trump's finances, could be about to play with Engoron's ruling expected Friday.
"The consequences could be, well, huge," wrote Rubin.
Jones was named the independent monitor for Trump, the Trump Organization and his two sons under a court order in November 2022, Rubin explained.
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That order restricts Trump from selling, transferring, or disposing of any non-cash assets listed on his 2021 Statement of Financial Condition without giving 14 days written notice to Attorney General Letitia James and Engoron, Rubin said.
"Defendants are hereby ordered to provide the monitor, at least 30 days in advance, information regarding any planned or anticipated restructuring of the Trump Organization, its subsidiaries and all other affiliates, or of any plans for disposing or refinancing of significant Trump Organization assets, or disposing of significant liquidity," the order also says.
Rubin explains this means the Trump Organization "cannot just play three-card Monty and move their buildings or golf courses or even their cash around so they wind up in new business entities outside New York."
"Instead, at best, they have to give their adversaries, a court, and the court-appointed monitor a two-week head start, in which time they could be further enjoined," Rubin wrote. "The bottom line is they’re mostly stuck in place—and on Friday, it could get much, much worse."
