Alina Habba, an attorney for former President Trump, brushed off New York Attorney General Letitia James’s (D) threat to seize the former president’s assets if he can’t pay the fines charged in his civil business fraud trial.
James told ABC News on Tuesday she is prepared to seize Trump’s assets if he does not pay the nearly $355 million verdict levied against him in a civil business fraud trial last week. In the interview, she mentioned Trump’s 40 Wall Street property by name as one asset that could be possibly taken.
Habba dismissed the threat, saying that James’s case and her threat won’t be “successful” when asked Wednesday on Fox News’s “The Story with Martha MacCallum” about James’s comments regarding Trump’s 40 Wall Street building.
“President Trump is one of the smartest businessmen, one of the greatest presidents we have ever seen. If she thinks she is going to take him down. If that was her goal, which we all know very well it was and she got a strong assist there in court,” she said. “But I will tell you this, that goal will not be successful and that is the message I can give to everyone listening here. It will not be successful.”
Trump’s finances are likely to take a blow with the nearly $355 million verdict — which could amount to just more than $450 million with interest. This fine comes on top of the $83.3 million a New York City jury said Trump must pay to writer E. Jean Carroll for defaming her in 2019.
Those two penalties amount to at least $438.1 million in legal penalties before any interest on the business fraud case.
“If he does not have funds to pay off the judgment, then we will seek judgment enforcement mechanisms in court, and we will ask the judge to seize his assets,” James told ABC News.
Trump’s attorneys requested a 30-day extension Wednesday on the time frame to pay the business fraud fine, arguing that James is in an “unseemly rush” to enforce the verdict, “particularly given the magnitude of Judgment.”
Trump has vowed to appeal the ruling.
