Former President Donald Trump says he may be forced to sell off his “Great Assets” at “Fire Sale prices” in order to raise the $464 million bond required as he appeals the judgment in his New York financial fraud trial. In a motion filed Monday, Trump’s lawyers seek to postpone payment of the bond as they appeal Judge Arthur Engoron’s judgment in the case. In the Jan. 6 election interference case, Trump’s lawyers file a brief asking the Supreme Court to rule that presidents have “absolute immunity” from criminal prosecution for acts committed while in office. Here are the latest legal developments involving the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for 2024.
New York financial fraud
With bond deadline approaching, Trump looks for alternatives
Key players: Judge Arthur Engoron, New York Attorney General Letitia James
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On Tuesday, Trump vented on social media about the March 25 deadline to post a $464 million bond while he appeals Engoron’s judgment in his civil financial fraud trial, The Hill reported.
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“Judge Engoron actually wants me to put up Hundreds of Millions of Dollars for the Right to Appeal his ridiculous decision. In other words, he is trying to take my Appellate Rights away from me,” Trump said in a post to Truth Social. “Nobody has ever heard of anything like this before.”
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“I would be forced to mortgage or sell Great Assets, perhaps at Fire Sale prices, and if and when I win the Appeal, they would be gone. Does that make sense?” Trump added.
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New York law requires a defendant to pay 110% of a civil judgment into an escrow account while that person appeals the decision in a case.
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Engoron ruled that Trump, his adult sons and his family business were guilty of carrying out years of financial fraud when they inflated the value of assets to obtain favorable bank and insurance rates.
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Thanks to a loan from the underwriter Chubb, Trump has already posted a separate bond for nearly $92 million while he appeals the jury’s verdict in the E. Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit. But Chubb and 29 other lenders refused to give Trump a loan to pay the larger bond amount.
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Trump now has limited options to raise the $464 million, the New York Times reported.
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He can hope his court appeals will lead to a stay, quickly sell off real estate assets, obtain a gift from a wealthy supporter, ask James to extend the 30-day grace period she has already given him or file for bankruptcy.
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If none of those options are available to Trump and he fails to pay the full bond on Monday, James could begin to seize Trump’s assets and freeze his bank accounts.
Why it matters: Even as a politician, Trump’s brand has been synonymous with wealth. His New York real estate holdings, some of which were at the center of the financial fraud trial, are reportedly some of his most prized possessions.
Jan. 6 election interference
Trump asks Supreme Court to rule that presidents have ‘absolute immunity’ from prosecution
Key players: Judge Tanya Chutkan, D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, U.S. Supreme Court, Trump lawyer John Sauer, special counsel Jack Smith
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On Tuesday, Trump’s lawyers filed a brief with the Supreme Court arguing that a president enjoys “absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for his official acts,” Reuters reported.
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“The president cannot function, and the presidency itself cannot retain its vital independence, if the president faces criminal prosecution for official acts once he leaves office,” Sauer wrote in the filing.
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Trump is charged with conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to disenfranchise voters, and conspiring and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
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His attorneys claim Trump’s actions were part of his official duties as president and argued in their brief that allowing him to be prosecuted would forever alter the job.
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“The threat of future prosecution and imprisonment would become a political cudgel to influence the most sensitive and controversial presidential decisions, taking away the strength, authority and decisiveness of the presidency,” the filing states.
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In fact, Trump is the first president in U.S. history charged with a crime after leaving office.
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Smith has countered that Trump contested the election in an attempt to remain in power, and that no one is above the law.
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Chutkan and the court of appeals both ruled in Smith’s favor, but Trump has appealed the matter to the Supreme Court.
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An Ipsos/Politico poll released this week found that 70% of U.S. voters and 48% of Republicans reject Trump’s assertion that he is immune to criminal prosecution for acts committed while in office.
Why it matters: While Trump’s lawyers argue that presidential power would be upended if the Supreme Court ruled that a commander in chief could never be prosecuted for acts committed while in office, prosecutors have focused on Trump’s efforts to overturn the election. Left unsaid is what consequences might unfold if the Supreme Court enshrines protections for a president’s actions, whatever they may entail, while still residing at the White House.
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Monday, March 18
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Lawyers for former President Donald Trump file an emergency appeal challenging Judge Scott McAfee’s ruling that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis can continue to prosecute Trump and 18 others on election interference charges now that lead prosecutor Nathan Wade has stepped down. Trump’s lawyers tell a New York appeals court that he faces “insurmountable difficulties” in securing the $464 million bond from lenders that he is required to pay as he appeals the judgment in his financial fraud civil trial. Trump is also asking the court to lower the amount he must pay while he appeals the case. Here are the latest legal developments facing the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for 2024.
Georgia election interference
Trump appeals judge’s decision allowing Fani Willis to remain on case
Key players: Trump lawyer Steve Sadow, Judge Scott McAfee, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, former lead prosecutor Nathan Wade, the Georgia Court of Appeals
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On Monday, Trump and eight of his co-defendants filed an emergency appeal of McAfee’s ruling that allowed Willis to remain on the case against Trump and 18 others so long as Wade stepped aside, USA Today reported.
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“The motion notes that the Court found that Willis’ actions created an appearance of impropriety and an ‘odor of mendacity’ that lingers in this case, but it nonetheless refused to dismiss the case or disqualify her,” the filing with the Georgia Court of Appeals states.
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Willis and Wade admitted to having a romantic relationship, but denied conflict-of-interest claims by the defendants that Willis had benefited financially by hiring Wade or had lied when called to testify about that relationship.
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Willis indicted Trump and 18 others for their efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia. So far, four of the defendants have pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against the others charged in the case.
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McAfee has yet to schedule a date for the trial for the remaining defendants.
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It is unclear whether the appeals court will take the case.
Why it matters: While McAfee allowed Willis to remain on the case, the appeals process could further delay the trial against Trump and the other defendants until after the November election.
New York financial fraud
Trump asks appeals court to allow him to delay payment of bond
Key players: Judge Arthur Engoron, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Trump lawyers Alina Habba and Clifford Robert, Trump Organization general counsel Alan Garten
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Trump’s lawyers told a New York appeals court that the former president had approached 30 underwriters to try to secure the $464 million bond required for him to proceed with his appeal of Engoron’s judgment in the financial fraud trial, but none had agreed to lend him the money, CNN reported.
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“The amount of the judgment, with interest, exceeds $464 million, and very few bonding companies will consider a bond of anything approaching that magnitude,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in a court filing.
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Trump is asking the appeals court to reduce the bond amount and to delay its payment until after his appeal is heard.
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Last month, Engoron ordered Trump to pay the state $355 million plus interest for years of fraudulent business practices, including the inflation of his assets to obtain favorable loan and insurance rates.
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Trump is appealing the decision, which obliges him to deposit 110% of the total amount owed into an escrow account as the appeals court hears the case.
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In Monday’s filing, Garten also painted a dim outlook for Trump’s ability to raise the bond amount.
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“Defendants have faced what have proven to be insurmountable difficulties in obtaining an appeal bond for the full $464 million,” he wrote, ABC News reported.
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James has said that if Trump does not come up with the full bond amount, she would go after his real estate assets.
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“Obtaining such cash through a ‘fire sale’ of real estate holdings would inevitably result in massive, irrecoverable losses — textbook irreparable injury,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in their filing.
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Habba and Robert also argued that the bond amount was “unconstitutionally excessive.”
Why it matters: During his trial, Trump told the court that he had $400 million on hand that he could apply toward a bond. Since then, he lost two high-profile cases, pushing his liabilities over half a billion dollars. He has paid a nearly $92 billion bond amount as he appeals a jury’s verdict in the defamation lawsuits brought by columnist E. Jean Carroll.
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A 24-year-old woman planning to pursue her masters abroad has been duped of Rs 2.5 lakh by an education consultancy firm which assured to prepare the requisite documents and facilitate her admission to a college in Italy.
The woman, identified as Smruti Khanduala, works for a software company in Mumbai. She lodged a complaint against the consultancy firm, based in Pune’s Viman Nagar area, at Vimantal police station on February 3, based on which police registered an FIR against four office-bearers of the firm under relevant sections of the IPC pertaining to cheating, forgery and counterfeiting.
The Pune City police arrested two people associated with firm and launched a probe into the suspected racket as they believe that the firm has cheated a large number of aspirants in the same manner.
It all began in December 2022 when Khanduala approached the firm, which informed her that as per her finances, it would be best for her to pursue a masters degree in Italy as the country provides a 100 percent scholarship which covers tuition fees, rent and food expenses. As the process began, between February and June 2023, she paid Rs 1.5 lakh to the firm as service charge.
“They first charged Rs 50,000 for my offer letter from the university, another Rs 50,000 for scholarship documents and another Rs 50,000 just to provide a Visa checklist. I asked them if it is necessary for me to complete my Visa application through them, to which they said if I don’t, they won’t help me if any problem arises later,” said Khanduala.
She received an offer letter for a course in International marketing and business management but did not get her scholarship letter or visa. After shelling out Rs 1.5 lakh, the consultancy told Khanduala that though the university will provide scholarship, her application won’t come through if she did not have Rs 10 to 15 lakhs in her bank account. She proposed to take a loan for the same.
“They told me they have tie-ups with all the banks across India, which can provide financial assistance. They told me not to worry and assured to take care of the procedure,” said Khanduala. She made a fourth payment of Rs 50,000 for third-party service.
As the appointment for her Visa interview approached in July 2023, she asked for the bank documents the consultancy was completing on her behalf but the firm didn’t provide anything. They asked her to reschedule her Visa appointment from July to September, then from September to October 30, alleged Khanduala.
“My mother got angry with these repeated delays and warned the consultancy to finish the procedure 15 days prior to the Visa appointment scheduled for October 30. Before October 30, I went to collect my documents and noticed a lot of spelling mistakes among other things. I told them to fix it immediately,” said Khanduala.
One day, Khanduala alleged, when she visited the office of the firm, the person in the office told her he was going to the bank. However, he went into one of the cabins in the office. “The room I was sitting in had a screen which showed CCTV footage of all cabins. I saw him take a stamp from a drawer and stamp all my documents himself. When I asked him about it, he handed me the documents and asked me to submit them for my Visa process. He told me to do as directed or lose all the money I had given so far,” she said.
Khanduala said she appeared for her Visa interview and submitted the documents prepared by the consultancy. Three months later in January, she received a letter stating that her Visa had been rejected due to ‘doubtful’ financial documents. The embassy asked her to re-submit the requisite documents on February 2.
On January 31, Khanduala met officials of the crime branch of the Pune City police. On a call at the time, the consultancy asked her to forge fake documents and to show a balance of Rs 13 lakhs, instead of Rs 3,000, in her mother’s bank account.
On February 2, Khanduala, accompanied by a police officer who posed as a decoy student, went to the firm’s office, where she was taken to a cabin and asked to forge signatures as a bank manager.
“They made me do 20-30 signatures on blank papers and got angry because they didn’t all look the same. One of them got very angry and started signing the documents herself. I texted the police and they were caught red-handed,” she said.
An officer from Vimantal police station said, “We have booked four office-bearers of the firm that claims to be a consultancy for admissions abroad. We have arrested two of them. We have reasons to believe that a large number of people may have been cheated in the same manner. Investigation is underway.”
Khanduala said the firm does third-party procedure for all students, most of whom don’t know what is being done in their name. “Another catch is they refuse to provide scholarship documents to students until we send a positive testimonial video saying they are really nice and help us a lot.”
The Instagram page of the consultancy is full of such testimonial videos, with names of the students erased and comments section turned off. The Indian Express tried to contact the consultancy but the number provided by them does not work.
A lavish Las Vegas property owned by alleged Ponzi schemer Greg Martel will be sold for $5.1 million US this week after a U.S. court authorized the deal and agreements settling opposing claims on the home.
But once the dust settles on the sale of the seven-bedroom, eight-bathroom, 9,221-square-foot house, it’s unlikely any of the money recovered will reach the many hundreds of people who lost money investing with Martel.
For one, the property has an outstanding mortgage of about $4 million US, according to receiver and trustee PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
In addition, PwC needs to pay back an investor who funded its legal efforts in the United States to the tune of $400,000 Cdn. PwC also says it needs to pay itself after racking up a bill of over $1 million Cdn investigating Martel, according to documents posted on its website.
Martel is the disgraced Victoria, B.C., mortgage broker at the centre of an alleged financial fraud run through his company, Shop Your Own Mortgage (SYOM), also known as My Mortgage Auction Corp.
According to the latest estimate, he owes 1,300 investors $312 million Cdn, in what an expert intimate with the details of the case said has all the hallmarks of a Ponzi scheme.
SYOM collapsed last year amid a flurry of lawsuits filed by investors. The claims were consolidated by the court under a receivership order in May of 2023 and PwC was appointed receiver with the duty to recover money and assets of Martel and his company to pay back jilted investors.
The Las Vegas property is one such asset — and a contentious one at that — requiring many months of legal machinations on both sides of the border.
In order to seize and sell the Las Vegas property, an agreement had to be reached between PwC and a group of creditors led by American Daniel Castellini, who lost $2 million investing with Martel.
Tracked down in Thailand
A sworn declaration submitted in U.S. court by PwC senior vice-president Neil Bunker detailed how in September of last year, a private investigator hired by Castellini tracked Martel down in Thailand where he was hiding out.
The investigator arranged for Thai authorities to detain Martel on an expired tourist visa, before cutting a deal that saw Martel transfer title of the Las Vegas property to Castellini, along with two Teslas and a “substantial” amount of cash.
According to Bunker, the deed for the Las Vegas property was secured through audio-visual communication on Aug. 29, 2023. Martel was released from Thai custody the next day and ordered to leave the country.
After learning that Martel had transferred the Las Vegas property to Castellini, PwC successfully argued in U.S. court that the powers previously granted in Canadian court gave PwC primary authority to recover and sell the home.
PwC then struck a deal with Castellini that says once PwC completes the sale of the Las Vegas property, Castellini will be paid $28,000 from the proceeds. The reimbursement is for “certain expenses [Castellini] represents were incurred investigating Martel and his business dealing,” according to court documents.
Court documents also say Castellini has agreed to co-operate with PwC by sharing the name of the investigator who went to Thailand, as well as all reports and information the investigator provided.
After leaving Thailand, Martel went to Dubai, according to PwC. His whereabouts are unknown.
The Las Vegas property is being sold to Kirk and Janette Mendez, who had also filed a claim on the home.
The couple signed a lease agreement with Martel in February of last year, about the time SYOM was blowing up. They agreed to pay $27,500 per month, with an option to buy the home outright for $5.1 million in February of 2024.
The Mendezes paid Martel for the year upfront but court documents say it appears he absconded with all the money.
CBC has reached out to Castellini and the Mendezes for comment.
According to PwC, two other properties owned by Martel were sold late last year as part of the asset recovery effort.
A heavily mortgaged house in Victoria sold for $2.47 million in December, resulting in $109,606 in net equity for the creditor pot. And an Ontario property Martel co-owned with a former spouse sold for $310,000, resulting in $82,698 in net equity recovered.
Last September, Martel was found guilty of contempt of court and warrants for his arrest have been issued in Canada and the U.S.
Largest Ponzi fraud in Canadian history?
Martel and SYOM were supposedly in the business of pooling investor money to provide short-term bridge loans to real estate developers, but so far investigators have found no evidence that any bridge loans were ever extended.
Martel attracted investors by promising sky-high rates of return, sometimes as high as 100 per cent on an annualized basis.
Bunker said previously that the absence of company records point to the concept that SYOM was a Ponzi scheme orchestrated by Martel.
If true, it would put him in the running for perpetrating Canada’s largest Ponzi fraud ever.
In 2017, two Alberta men were found guilty of fraud and theft after bilking investors out of a combined total of between $100 million and $400 million. At the time the RCMP characterized the crime as the largest Ponzi scheme in Canadian history.
A Ponzi scheme is where people hand over money believing it will be used in legitimate investments, often with the promise of large returns. Behind the scenes, the money actually goes toward paying earlier investors who have also been promised profits.