Letitia James filed a ‘notice of exception to the sufficiency of the surety’ seeking more information about Knight Specialty Insurance Company
Donald Trump’s $175m bond in his New York civil fraud case has been thrown into doubt by New York Attorney General Letitia James after she filed a notice asking for evidence that the out-of-state firm that underwrote it really has the money to pay up.
Ms James’s office submitted a “notice of exception to the sufficiency of the surety” on Thursday asking for further proof that California-based Knight Specialty Insurance Company (KSIC) has the capital to proceed on the former president’s behalf.
KSIC is not regulated by New York state, which means that it is not authorised to issue surety bonds in the Empire State and therefore cannot obtain a certificate from the New York Department of Financial Services, which is customarily part of any bond package.
The funny thing is, even if this shady company is found not to be able to post the bond, per new york state law they’re still legally on the hook for the money, unless an actual elgibile bond is found. So Letitia James may get to go after both this shady company and Trump, with the shady company forced to then go after Trump directly to get back the portion they promised to the state.
The whole point of all of this is specifically so they won’t have to hunt people down for the money. If they allow this bond to stand, all it will do is give Trump some cannon fodder to throw in front of the AG when he inevitably loses the appeal. They will attempt to collect the bond, KSIC will disappear (and probably flee the country), and the AG will have to spend years going after them for the money while Trump walks away.
What should happen is that the AG seize personal properties at their actual appraised value and have them locked in escrow until the appeals play out. If he wins, he gets his properties back, untouched. If he loses, he can either pay up the cash in exchange for the properties or lose them.
Oh what I mean is, if new york doesn’t accept this bond as valid, the company that promised the invalid bond is still on hook for the 175 million, but right now, even though it doesn’t count as a bond for Trump. The bond company could sue Trump to recover that though, and Leititia James can immediately start going after Trump and the shady company both. It won’t work as a bond if it’s not valid, but they’ve still made themselves liable by submitting these filings, unless Trump gives the state the money or a valid bond is submitted.
https://law.justia.com/codes/new-york/2022/cvp/article-25/2507/
Unless I’m misreading this.