Letitia James filed a ā€˜notice of exception to the sufficiency of the suretyā€™ seeking more information about Knight Specialty Insurance Company

Letitia James filed a ā€˜notice of exception to the sufficiency of the suretyā€™ seeking more information about Knight Specialty Insurance Company

Donald Trumpā€™sĀ $175m bondĀ in hisĀ New YorkĀ civil fraud case has been thrown into doubt by New York Attorney GeneralĀ Letitia JamesĀ 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 Jamesā€™s office submitted a ā€œnotice of exception to the sufficiency of the suretyā€ on Thursday asking for further proof that California-basedĀ Knight Specialty Insurance CompanyĀ (KSIC) has the capital to proceed on theĀ former presidentā€™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.

  • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.worldEnglish
    11Ā·
    8 months ago

    The whole point of all of this is specifically so they wonā€™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.

    • Ranvier@sopuli.xyz
      2Ā·
      8 months ago

      Oh what I mean is, if new york doesnā€™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 doesnā€™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 wonā€™t work as a bond if itā€™s not valid, but theyā€™ve still made themselves liable by submitting these filings, unless Trump gives the state the money or a valid bond is submitted.

      Failure to justify. If a motion to justify is not made within ten days after the notice of exception is served, the undertaking shall then be without effect, except as provided in this subdivision. Unless otherwise provided by order of court, a surety on an undertaking excepted to and not justified shall remain liable until a new undertaking is given and allowed, but the original undertaking shall be otherwise without effect.

      https://law.justia.com/codes/new-york/2022/cvp/article-25/2507/

      Unless Iā€™m misreading this.