Letitia James Could Be Eyeing Trump's 200-Acre New York Estate

Donald Trump's Seven Springs property in Bedford might be among the first assets New York Attorney General Letitia James seizes and liquidates as she starts collecting the $464 million owed by Donald Trump following her lawsuit against him.

James, who brought the civil fraud case against the former president, his two eldest sons and his organization, will be able to sell off Trump's assets in the state as of Tuesday, should he fail to raise the massive sum required as bond by Monday.

According to U.S. law professor Joyce Vance, a former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama during the Obama administration, James is likely to start from Trump's assets in Westchester County, including Trump's National Golf Course in Briarcliff Manor and Seven Springs.

"New York Attorney General Tish James formally registered the judgment against him in Westchester County, New York, just outside Manhattan, earlier this month," Vance wrote in her latest newsletter. "That could signal that James is looking at possible seizures of properties Trump has there including Trump National Golf Course in Briarcliff Manor and Seven Springs. Trump has to be frustrated by James' unrelenting pursuit of justice," she added.

Newsweek contacted Vance, Trump's legal team and the New York Attorney General's office for comment by email early on Friday.

The former president's wealth is tied up in real estate holdings, and selling some of these properties would be one way he could rapidly collect the huge sum needed to stop the New York Attorney General from acting on the court's judgment. According to Forbes' last estimates in September 2023, Trump's real estate portfolio was worth $1.9 billion.

Seven Springs could be a good option for what Trump's lawyers described as a "fire sale" of his assets, which they argued would cause "massive, irrevocable losses" to the former president. The 230-acre property which spans across the towns of Bedford, Armonk and Chappaqua is one of Trump's so-called trophy properties but doesn't hold the importance Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, has for the GOP's presumptive 2024 presidential election candidate.

Trump purchased the century-old Georgian-style mansion in 1995 and uses it as a retreat for his family, according to the Trump International Realty website. While he paid $7.5 million for it at the time—$2.5 million under the list price—the former president valued the property at $291 million in 2012. In his financial disclosure forms while president, he said the property was worth between $25 million and $50 million.

The estate, built in 1919, has 60 rooms, 15 bedrooms, three pools, a bowling alley and is surrounded by nature reserves.

People are speculating on social media which of Trump's properties might be the first to be seized by the New York Attorney General. And a tweet on X, formerly Twitter, predicts Seven Springs might be an initial choice for the auction block.

On Tuesday, Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social: "I would be forced to mortgage or sell Great Assets, perhaps at Fire Sale prices, and if and when I win the Appeal, they would be gone. Does that make sense?"

Selling the property alone won't solve Trump's problems, but the addition of his National Golf Course in Briarcliff Manor would, giving him enough cash for an underwriter.

The golf course, originally established in 1922, was bought by Trump for $7.5 million in 1996.

These are the same properties that James has signaled she's ready to seize when she filed judgments in Westchester County on March 6—a week after the ruling by Judge Arthur Engoron which found Trump guilty of inflating the value of his assets in the state and lying about his wealth. Engoron found Trump liable for $355 million which has increased to $464 million with interest.

In a court filing on March 18, Trump's legal team said it was "practically impossible" for him to post the $464 million bond and suggested it be reduced to $100 million.

"Despite scouring the market we have been unsuccessful in our effort to obtain a bond for the Judgment Amount for Defendants for the simple reason that obtaining an appeal bond for $464 million is a practical impossibility under the circumstances presented," the filing said.

Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in the civil fraud case and insists that, if anything, his assets were undervalued.