# NY AG Letitia James drops the (civil) hammer {On Trump & Family} \[9/21/2022\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [September 21, 2022, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-letitia-james-drops-the-civil-hammer-on-trump-family-9-21-2022/971991 "2022-09-21T16:13:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 142
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-letitia-james-drops-the-civil-hammer-on-trump-family-9-21-2022/971991/2822 "2024-03-21T13:12:16Z")
Which is exactly the problem he is facing. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-letitia-james-drops-the-civil-hammer-on-trump-family-9-21-2022/971991/2823 "2024-03-21T13:24:39Z")
this is one time where his delay tactic is not a good thing. every day is dollars flying out of his pocket. how long will it take for the appeal to go through? ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-letitia-james-drops-the-civil-hammer-on-trump-family-9-21-2022/971991/2824 "2024-03-21T13:25:15Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Broadly speaking, the difference between a condo and an apartment is one of ownership. You own a condo much in the same way you might own a house. Whereas you rent an apartment that is generally part of a larger structure full of other apartments being rented out. I imagine you might lease a condo in a similiar manner that you might lease a house, but it’s still a condo. Even if a property were owned outright by Trump, you wouldn’t be able to evict anyone who owned a condo there. In my experience as a long term NYC resident, we call them all apartments- whether they are co-ops, condos or rentals. You will frequently hear New Yorkers speaking about buying or owning an apartment. Rental apartments are referred to as rental apartments or just rentals. But you are right that Trump residential buildings aren’t rental buildings, they are all condos or co-ops, which means that Trump doesn’t own the residential units, just portions of the common spaces. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-letitia-james-drops-the-civil-hammer-on-trump-family-9-21-2022/971991/2825 "2024-03-21T13:46:18Z")
Taking Mar-a-Lago was my first thought as well. That would HURT Trump personally more than any other property I suspect. But at the same time wouldn’t “_taking a man’s home away from him_” tend to generate more widespread sympathy for him? Kinda like any family that’s ever had a bank foreclose on their home? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-letitia-james-drops-the-civil-hammer-on-trump-family-9-21-2022/971991/2826 "2024-03-21T13:53:21Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > If Big Bank took a mortgage of TrumpProperty #2, that puts them ahead of unsecured creditors like a judgment creditor. Right, but if the shell companies make it difficult to figure out who ultimately owns TP#2\*, who exactly is getting the loan and who exactly is getting the debt in the first place? I’m not talking about the bond surety stuff, but the original loans that this whole thing is predicated on. I get that this is outside your expertise, I’m just baffled. \*this made me giggle way too much ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-letitia-james-drops-the-civil-hammer-on-trump-family-9-21-2022/971991/2827 "2024-03-21T13:57:05Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > Taking Mar-a-Lago was my first thought as well. That would HURT Trump personally more than any other property I suspect. But at the same time wouldn’t “_taking a man’s home away from him_” tend to generate more widespread sympathy for him? Kinda like any family that’s ever had a bank foreclose on their home? This is an argument we’ve heard through every step of Trump’s legal problems. i.e. That these prosecutions/litigations are only serving to make him more popular. This is true to an extent as it has galvanized some of his core followers, but I haven’t seen any reliable evidence that this has really helped Trump in any way. His legal troublers haven’t netted him additional faithful disciples and I don’t expect the seizure of Mar-a-Lago would either. I don’t expect Mar-a-Lago is the first property they’d go after. But if it is overly difficult to seize other assets for whatever reason, I imagine his Florida property is on the list. This is a problem entirely of Trump’s own creation. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-letitia-james-drops-the-civil-hammer-on-trump-family-9-21-2022/971991/2828 "2024-03-21T13:57:10Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > But you are right that Trump residential buildings aren’t rental buildings, they are all condos or co-ops, which means that Trump doesn’t own the residential units, just portions of the common spaces. But what does that even mean? Are condos in the US significantly different than in Canada? In Canada, such common areas would be owned by the Condo Corporation set up to manage the condo, which is controlled by a board elected by the individual condo owners. Each owner is a part-owner of the condo corporation. The only time you’d have a third party owning any part of that would be in a new building, where the company that built the thing is still in the process of selling off the individual units. And even in that case, there’s at least a few laws to protect the interests of the individual owners during this transition time. So what does it mean for Trump to “own” these bits? Does he charge the other owners rent for using the hallways and elevators? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-letitia-james-drops-the-civil-hammer-on-trump-family-9-21-2022/971991/2829 "2024-03-21T14:02:07Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > > [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > > > So they can take his private jet and helicopters? > > If they belong to Trump and not his campaign, yes (although the ownership of both is almost certainly buried in a long chain of shell companies). Trump’s Boeing 757 is owned by DJT Operations I LLC, which is registered in Delaware. The Delaware Secretary of State does not list the company’s officers. (It looks like they might have that information, but there’s a fee.) Trump’s Cessna Citation X is owned by DT Endeavor I LLC, also registered in Delaware but I didn’t look them up on the DE SoS site. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-letitia-james-drops-the-civil-hammer-on-trump-family-9-21-2022/971991/2830 "2024-03-21T14:02:54Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > Taking Mar-a-Lago was my first thought as well. That would HURT Trump personally more than any other property I suspect. But at the same time wouldn’t “_taking a man’s home away from him_” tend to generate more widespread sympathy for him? Kinda like any family that’s ever had a bank foreclose on their home? I don’t think that they will touch Mar-a-Largo for two reasons. One is as you state, the political optics are damning. Second, is that they will need a secure place to put him on house arrest and Mar-a-Largo fits that senario quite well. Lock him up there and make him pay for his own incarceration. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-letitia-james-drops-the-civil-hammer-on-trump-family-9-21-2022/971991/2831 "2024-03-21T14:02:58Z")
I don’t have any polls or data to support the notion, but it just seems to me that having your home seized paints a more sympathetic picture of him being a _victim_ and might garner and additional percent of support somewhere in the electorate. Playing victim is precisely what Trump has been making the cornerstone of his 2024 campaign. Why help that perception, seize some other property ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-letitia-james-drops-the-civil-hammer-on-trump-family-9-21-2022/971991/2832 "2024-03-21T14:18:08Z")
I’m pretty certain he’ll make bond. Some company will squeeze him like a lemon Saturday and they’ll file an appeal at the last minute. They are just waiting until the pressure hits Max. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-letitia-james-drops-the-civil-hammer-on-trump-family-9-21-2022/971991/2833 "2024-03-21T14:31:24Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > it just seems to me that having your home seized paints a more sympathetic picture of him being a _victim_ and might garner and additional percent of support somewhere in the electorate. I certainly take your point, and – particularly for DJT’s supporters – perception is infinitely more important than reality, but … Just to inject a modicum _of_ reality: > **[Residences of Donald Trump](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Residences_of_Donald_Trump)** > > Former U.S. president, businessman, and television personality Donald Trump currently has six residences. > Trump grew up in Jamaica Estates, an affluent neighborhood in Queens, New York City. During his time at the New York Military Academy, he lived on campus; he later rented row houses in college. In 1971, Trump moved to a studio on 75th Street in Manhattan. Since the completion of Trump Tower in 1983, Trump had lived in a three-level penthouse on the top floors. He purchased the Seven Spri... ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-letitia-james-drops-the-civil-hammer-on-trump-family-9-21-2022/971991/2834 "2024-03-21T14:34:13Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > I don’t have any polls or data to support the notion, but it just seems to me that having your home seized Trump has signed a legal document saying that Mar-a-Lago is NOT his primary residence, he’s actually an employee of the club and as such is allowed to live there. This was so he could pay much, much lower taxes on the property. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-letitia-james-drops-the-civil-hammer-on-trump-family-9-21-2022/971991/2835 "2024-03-21T14:35:06Z")
I’m aware of that. Yet Mar-a-Lago is physically his primary domicile. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-letitia-james-drops-the-civil-hammer-on-trump-family-9-21-2022/971991/2836 "2024-03-21T14:38:35Z")
And wouldn’t it be ironic if he ended up forced to live in New York again? I don’t expect that to happen, but it’s an amusing thought. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-letitia-james-drops-the-civil-hammer-on-trump-family-9-21-2022/971991/2837 "2024-03-21T15:52:40Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I’m pretty certain he’ll make bond. Some company will squeeze him like a lemon Saturday and they’ll file an appeal at the last minute. Anything’s possible, I guess, but this just doesn’t seem likely. It’s not an issue of some predatory firm trying to squeeze every drop of blood out of Trump. It’s that Trump is a _really_ shitty credit risk. From everything I’ve read and heard, the likeliest scenario is that Trump just doesn’t have enough unencumbered assets to make it an absolute certainty the issuer will get its dough. Seems like he needs a White Knight. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-letitia-james-drops-the-civil-hammer-on-trump-family-9-21-2022/971991/2838 "2024-03-21T16:05:29Z")
The push to get this Trump Media merger finished ASAP suggest that he’s moved on to hailing a new Mary. If he’s able to get clearance to dump his stock (which seems to me is effectively clearance to destroy the company’s value), he’d only need to get around 15%\* of its current valuation before it bottoms out. The latest article I read puts his interest in the company at around 3 billion. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-letitia-james-drops-the-civil-hammer-on-trump-family-9-21-2022/971991/2839 "2024-03-21T16:20:48Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > Seems like he needs a White Knight. More like a Black Knight. Maybe even a Nazgûl. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-letitia-james-drops-the-civil-hammer-on-trump-family-9-21-2022/971991/2840 "2024-03-21T16:30:45Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > I wonder if that means the creditor can seize the lease, and either collect the rental income coming in, or sell the lease to someone else for cash. That sounds reasonable, and the better approach would be to sell the lease and get the money up front. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-letitia-james-drops-the-civil-hammer-on-trump-family-9-21-2022/971991/2841 "2024-03-21T16:33:10Z")
Early signs are that she’ll be moving on Trump’s Silver Springs resort and Trump National Golf Club Westchester first. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-letitia-james-drops-the-civil-hammer-on-trump-family-9-21-2022/971991.md?page=141) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-letitia-james-drops-the-civil-hammer-on-trump-family-9-21-2022/971991.md?page=143)