Exploring the Intersection of Fragrance sales and legal woes in Trump’s Financial saga
IT Being a journalist is about asking important questions. And I’m about to ask a question that I never anticipated asking in my career. What do you imagine Donald Trump smells like? Well, you don’t actually have to guess because the former president is now selling victory 47 perfume for both men and women. According to the product description, each $99 bottle,
which I tried very hard to get my hands on tonight, contains the, quote, signature scent of strength and success. A crisp opening of citrus blends into a cedar heart underpinned by a rich base of leather and amber, creating a commanding presence, end quote.
With a discerning enough nose, you might also detect top notes of a cash grab by a man whose bill for half a billion dollars has come due
Monday is Trump’s deadline to post the bond needed to delay enforcement of the $464,000,000 fine from his New York civil fraud trial. If he doesn’t find that money somewhere,
the New York attorney general can begin seizing Trump’s assets, including his seven Springs golf course. As the deadline approaches, the former president selling perfume and stocks. Meme stocks almost today,
Trump’s media company approved a merger to take truth social public, and the attention has caused the valuation to balloon. The merger is expected to close as early as next week, and Trump’s 60% stake in the company could be worth $3 billion. Now,
if those inflated share prices hold for a while, could Trump use them to post his bond? I know just the person to ask. Joining me now is Neil Peterson, owner of the New York based Peterson and sons surety bond agency. Neil, good to see you.
Thank you for being with us. Thank you so much for having me. We have been asking people who know about these things, these questions all week because most of us know nothing about this, right?
We have no idea how this world of bonds and surety works. Let’s start with the basics. Donald Trump’s got to do something on Monday, and he doesn’t appear to be able to have done it. He doesn’t appear to have gotten the bonds that he needs.
What do you think is happening now and what happens on Monday? I think he’s working diligently to obtain the bond. If he doesn’t post it by Monday, I still think there’s an uphill battle for Letitia James to execute on the judgment and seize his assets. I don’t think it’s going to be as simple as going to 40 Wall street and auctioning office, as she has said to the press.
So I think there’s going to be accounts restrained, maybe some cash seized some bank accounts levied, and I think there’s going to be a further proceeding to have them turned over to her, which is going to take some time. So what do you think can happen? He says, I can’t raise the bond needed.
She says, actually, you can, because you don’t have to have it done as one bond, tell me what that means. In theory, you could post bonds from a couple of different surety companies to add up to the full value.
That becomes a little messy, because on the back end, you would need, let’s say, if you use ten companies, there would have to be some sort of. Agreement to who gets what order they get it in.
Yes. So getting ten companies to agree to anything is very difficult. Even if you had four or five, it’s going to be complicated. No one wants to agree to be the first person to pay. And the issue is if you have to pay, meaning if the judgment goes against Donald Trump, his appeal goes against him, and the bond company now has to pay the money in exchange for that.
In theory, you’d have taken assets worth more than what you have to pay up. So what’s the problem? What’s the risk to the bond company? So the real risk is that judgments, once they’re affirmed on appeal, have to be paid within five to ten days. Right. If you pledge real estate, it’s not liquid. You can’t liquidate it quickly.
That could take months to a year to do. A company doesn’t want to lay out $500 million pending recouping about the same or more, with interest and penalties once the real estate is sold.
The other aspect is that most real estate has a first or second position, so no one wants to come in as a second or third creditor right on the property. And then lastly, if the former president gets reelected, a bond secured by an indemnification agreement.
Surety company has never had to execute on an indemnity against a sitting president. That is going to have challenges in itself. So bottom line is, these surety companies are like, we got enough business. This is too complicated for us. Correct.
They’re not very forward thinking companies. It’s one of the oldest industries in the country. They’re not reinventing their underwriting cycle or process.
They’re taking select risks that are intelligent. It’s supposed to be a zero loss game. So if you were good at this, if you knew how to handle real estate, big real estate in Manhattan, and you said, all right, you know what? You’re probably going to lose your appeal.
I’m probably going to be caused as the bond issuer to pay up in short order. But I’ve got this building or I’ve got these assets. Would you do that for the discount that you could get? In other words, it’s a zero loss game? Could there be a way that you can say, all right,
Donald Trump, you got to put out a billion dollars worth of property to get a half a billion dollar bond? It’s unlikely. I haven’t seen the former president’s financial statement, but we’re also not able to secure minority interest in properties. So if he’s.