This is fearmongering. If Trump doesn’t post a bond and doesn’t get a stay of enforcement, then the State attaches bank accounts, and goes ahead with auctions of some of his interests in real estate. If the judgment is then reversed on appeal, he gets his money back. He suffers a forced sale of properties he would’ve preferred to keep, but in their place he gets the fair market value as reflected in the winning bid. That’s a loss to him but not a catastrophe, i.e., not confiscation. (Averting problems like this is why people bond appeals when they can.)
New York State is not going to refuse to pay him and provoke some kind of constitutional crisis. If the ultimate resolution is in Trump’s favor, the State will just cut him a check – regardless of whether he’s President or a private citizen.
Cutting a check for the amount that NYS is willing to accept for the seized properties does not make President Trump whole. Especially given that the state has already alleged the properties are worth significantly less than he has asserted. Forcing the sale of an asset for an amount less than the owner would accept and then giving that fire-sale amount to the rightful owner after reversal is theft.
Further, the scale of the fine and the stupidly short time frame for a whole-value bond is a clear indicator of the theft and fire-sale of the properties is the intended outcome.
However, let’s assume those bids for Trump’s property are lowered because of the questions surrounding the forced sale — who would pay full value, not knowing what might happen to the recently acquired property? Then — using your scenario of Trump being paid back “fair market value” of whatever the winning bids were — Trump is given back his money at a reduced rate. Kind of a win/win for Trump’s enemies: if he loses his appeal, they have stripped him of very valuable property/assets; if he wins his appeal, he gets back only a fraction of the real value of the property.
Yeah, we sold Mar a Lago for 50 million to Bezos. Here’s you check Mr. Trump.
“He suffers a forced sale of properties he would’ve preferred to keep, but in their place he gets the fair market value as reflected in the winning bid.”
And THIS makes him whole???
I can not disagree with you more!!!
As a business owner, I could not replace my property and re-open my business for the meager amount that people would pay for my lifelong work at a State public auction. I would lose not only the loss of value of the property, but also all my potential income for the future from the property -— as would Trump.
Plus => it wouldn’t surprise me at all if New York taxed proceeds of the payment as “income” to Trump from the sales of his properties as well.