March 25 (UPI) — New York Attorney General Letitia James may soon seize the properties of Donald Trump if he does not pay a $454 judgment against him for civil fraud Monday.
The former president’s prized Trump Tower, the Trump Building — both in New York — and more than a dozen golf and social clubs, including the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, are at risk. The value of these properties, fraudulently reported by the Trump Organization, would be sought to satisfy the judgment if Trump is unable to post the bond.
Court documents from the civil fraud case in New York indicate the estimated value of many of the properties, as well as the value Trump claimed. Those fraudulent values were found on financial statements and loan applications as the Trump Organization sought to take out loans against the properties.
The documents also explain some of the tactics James alleged Trump used to inflate, or in some cases deflate, those values to obtain loans, avoid taxes or otherwise seek capital gains.
Some properties that bear the Trump name are not owned by him at all. Trump Plaza, at 167 E. 61st St. in Manhattan, is owned by a combination of other companies, including JP Morgan Chase, according to New York City’s Automated City Register Information System.
Other buildings are only partially owned by the Trump Organization, such as Trump Tower. The Trump Organization owns the commercial and retail units in the building and Trump owns a triplex apartment.
According to James’ report, Trump reported the value of that apartment at $327 million. The value was calculated based on the apartment being about 30,000 square feet at $29,738 per square foot. However the apartment is only about 11,000 square feet.
“That price was absurd given the fact that at that point only one apartment in New York City had ever sold for even $100 million, at a price per square foot of less than $10,000, and that sale was in a newly built, ultra-tall tower,” James’ report reads. ” In the 30-year-old Trump Tower, the record sale at that time was a mere $16.5 million at a price of less than $4,500 per square foot.”
Trump Park Avenue at 502 Park Ave. in New York was valued by Trump at between $90.9 million and $350 million between 2011 and 2021. In 2020, it was appraised at $84.5 million but Trump reported its value at $135.8 million in financial statements.
The Trump Organization describes Trump Park Avenue as having 120 luxury condominiums. The 32-story building was constructed in the 1920s and opened in 1929.
The value of the building reported by the Trump Organization was made up largely from the value of unsold rental properties, according to James. There were 12 “rent-stabilized units” that were valued by an independent bank at $750,000 total in 2010. Trump reported their value at $50 million.
Following the closing arguments of the civil fraud sentencing hearings in February, Trump and attorney Alina Habba held a news conference at the Trump Building at 40 Wall St. Trump does not own this building but owns a ground lease to it. This means he pays rent to the owner for an interest in it.
Trump, who is running for re-election, also owns ground leases for Niketown in New York and Trump Old Post Office in Washington.
The Trump Building was appraised at $220 million in 2012, but Trump reported it at $527 million and $530 million that year.
Golf social clubs make up a large part of the Trump Organization’s properties in New York and beyond.
Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s resort in Palm Beach, Fla., was valued up to $739 million by the Trump Organization. James estimates that it is actually worth about $75 million.
Trump purchased the Seven Springs estate and golf course in Bedford, N.Y., for about $7.5 million in 1995. The 212-acre estate was valued at up to $291 million in statements the organization reported between 2011 and 2021.
New York is also home to the Trump National Golf Club Westchester and Hudson Valley. Other Trump National Golf Clubs are located in North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, California and two in New Jersey.
There are Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeen and Turnberry, Scotland.
The most common scheme Trump allegedly used to inflate the values of his golf clubs is what James referred to as membership schemes. The “unsold membership scheme” — used at Westchester, North Carolina and others — claimed the value of unsold memberships to the clubs were more expensive, and more common, than they actually were.
The Westchester club claimed 67 unsold memberships with initiation fees of nearly $200,000 in 2011. No new members had paid an initiation fee of more than $50,000 the year prior.
The other common membership scheme was the “membership deposit scheme.” This was for Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Fla. For this, the organization used the value of membership deposits and fees to inflate the cost and value of the club while Trump claimed no liability for the deposits.
Another tactic James alleges, and Trump has alluded to in court, is the “brand premium scheme.” This relates to Trump’s claim that properties’ values are increased by being part of the “Trump brand.”
During the trial, Trump testified that he believed the values in his statements of financial condition were “both high and low.” There are at least two examples of Trump underreporting values of properties in an attempt to avoid tax obligations. He claimed that Trump International Hotel and Towers in Las Vegas and Chicago were “worthless.” Meanwhile he took out a loan of more than $150 million from Deutsche Bank using the Chicago property as collateral.
Trump claimed the Las Vegas hotel had a value of about $24.9 million in an attempt to contest taxes in 2015. Trump Organization records valued the property at around $107 million. Trump owns a 50% stake in the property.
