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it remains to be seen how successful Donald Trump will ultimately be in appealing Justice Arthur Engoron's sanctions in New York State Attorney General Letitia James' civil fraud case. But for now, he has a financial lifeline while making the appeal: the $175 million bond posted by billionaire Don Hankey, who chairs Knight Specialty Insurance Company.
Since the 80-year-old Hankey posted the bond, his history in the business world has drawn a great deal of scrutiny. The New Republic's Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, in a biting article published on April 3, stresses that Hankey — who has been called "the king of subprime loans" — has a history of "shady business practices."
The Daily Beast has reported that one of Hankey's companies, Westlake Services, was sued by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) when Trump was president for illegally repossessing 70 cars. And Houghtaling points out that the Westlake debacle wasn't the first time he was "penalized by the feds."
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"That's all a part of the game to Hankey, who carved out his $7.4 billion fortune through those kinds of predatory practices, targeting low-income customers with high-interest auto loans," Houghtaling explains. "Hankey's Knight Specialty Insurance Company is the group that underwrote Trump's bond for his civil fraud trial, but it’s not Hankey's only investment in Trump's financial situation.
Hankey is also believed to be the largest shareholder in Axos Financial, according to MSNBC’s Lisa Rubin — a financial institution that, in 2022, refinanced more than $50 million of Trump's loans on Trump Tower and Trump National Doral Miami, according to documents filed with the Office of Government Ethics."
Houghtaling points out that Hankey discussed Trump with Forbes during an early April interview.
The billionaire told Forbes, "I'd never met Donald Trump. I'd never talked to him on the phone. I heard that he needed a loan or a bond, and this is what we do. So, we reached out, and he responded."
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*Read The New Republic's full article at this link.
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AN 4 24
Former President Donald Trump needed someone to post a $175 bond while he appeals Justice Arthur Engoron's sanctions in New York State Attorney General Letitia James' civil fraud lawsuit — and he found it in 80-year-old billionaire Don Hankey, chairman of the Knight Specialty Insurance Co.
Bloomberg News' Erik Larsen takes an in-depth look at Hankey in an article published on April 1, describing him as someone "whose fortune stems from car dealerships, real estate and financial services."
Hankey is richer than Trump. While Forbes has estimated Trump's total net worth to be around $2.6 billion, Forbes estimates that Hankey is worth $7.4 billion.
READ MORE:**Trump already owed the billionaire who just helped him post fraud case bond**
Larsen reports, "Hankey said Knight reached out to Trump's team to offer its services after hearing about the former president's trouble arranging a bond, which was initially set at 120 percent of the judgment, or about $540 million. The appeals court lowered the bond to $175 million after Trump said he didn't have enough cash."
Although Hankey has supported Trump politically, he doesn't know him personally.
The billionaire told Bloomberg News, "Yes, I voted for him in the past. But this is a business deal, and this is what we do. I have never met Donald Trump, nor talked to him on the phone."
Larsen notes that Knight Specialty Insurance Co. is "one of several affiliated companies that are part of the Los Angeles-based Hankey Group, a homegrown empire that also owns Westlake Financial Services, Hankey Capital and a Toyota dealership in North Hollywood."
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*Read Bloomberg News' full report at this link.
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AN 4 24
one month after Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Donald Trump to pay $464 million at the conclusion of his New York civil fraud trial, a panel of New York Appellate Division judges last week granted the MAGA hopeful ten days to post a $175 million bond instead.
Trump attorneys previously claimed it would be "impossible" for Trump to put up the half-billion judgement.
On Monday, the former president posted the $175 million, meaning he "has likely avoided a worst-case scenario of frozen bank accounts and asset seizure," Axios reports.
READ MORE:[Why Trump believes he can dodge 'any serious repercussions' in court: report
MSNBC reported last month New York Attorney General Letitia James said, "We are prepared to make sure that the judgment is paid to New Yorkers, and, yes, I look at 40 Wall St. each and every day."
Keeping her word, she'd already begun to seize "Trump's golf course and private estate north of Manhattan, known as Seven Spring," last week.
"As promised, President Trump has posted bond," Trump lawyer Alina Habba said in a statement, according to ABC News. "He looks forward to vindicating his rights on appeal and overturning this unjust verdict," she added.
According to MSNBC legal correspondent Lisa Rubin, the former president already owed loans from two years ago back to the billionaire who helped him secure the $175 million.
READ MORE:**Letitia James has already moved to start process of seizing Trump assets**
Rubin reports via X (formerly Twitter), "NEW: The company that underwrote Trump's bond tonight in the NY Attorney General's civil fraud case, Knight Specialty Insurance Co., is owned by Don Hankey, the so-called 'king of subprime car loans.' But that's not all."
She continued, "Hankey, who is #128 on Forbes’s 2023 list and #317 on the 2023 Forbes billionaires list, made his money in auto services. But he is also believed to be the largest shareholder in Axos Bank. If Axos sounds familiar, it's because it's the financial institution that refinanced Trump’s loans on Trump Tower and Doral in 2022. Specifically, Axos has loaned Trump $100 million in his refinancing of Trump Tower and another $125 million for Doral."
Rubin noted, "Both loans are not due until 2032, according to the Office of Government Ethics disclosure Trump made in August 2023. The list of his liabilities, as it appears in that filing and which references both Axos loans, is pasted below here."
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