04-04-2024, 07:41 PM
"There seem to be serious issues," said Bruce H. Lederman, an attorney who has filed many bonds in New York, including for a real estate developer challenging a judgment. Lederman said he was struck by "glaring errors" in the bond..
"In all the years I've been doing this, you always have to have a certificate from the Department of Financial Services saying that you're licensed to issue a surety bond," he said, referring to the missing certificate of qualification.
Lederman also noticed that Knight Specialty is not listed on New York's Department of Financial Services website.
The company refiled its posting, as directed by the clerk, after CBS News published its report on Thursday and before James' took exception to the bond.
On Wednesday, the New York Supreme Court clerk's office had returned to Trump's attorneys the bond filing "for correction." There was no reason publicly specified in the request for correction.
Adam Pollock, a former assistant attorney general in New York, said, "This bond is deficient for a number of reasons."
"Including that the company doesn't appear to be licensed in New York and doesn't appear to have enough capital to make this undertaking," Pollock said...
The billionaire behind Trump's bond is Don Hankey, the chairman of Knight Insurance, which owns the subsidiary that wrote the bond.
Hankey said that Trump used "cash" as collateral for the bond, a total of $175 million.
"First he furnished about $120 million worth of bonds that we OK'd, so we assumed it would be investment-grade bonds and cash. But as it turned out, it was all cash," he told CBS News in a brief phone call on Tuesday.
But Trump retained that $175 million cash collateral, according to Shah. He said the money is in an account that is "pledged" to the company. He would not specify the type of account. Trump paid a premium to the company that Shah declined to disclose.
Wow.
Just... wow.
"In all the years I've been doing this, you always have to have a certificate from the Department of Financial Services saying that you're licensed to issue a surety bond," he said, referring to the missing certificate of qualification.
Lederman also noticed that Knight Specialty is not listed on New York's Department of Financial Services website.
The company refiled its posting, as directed by the clerk, after CBS News published its report on Thursday and before James' took exception to the bond.
On Wednesday, the New York Supreme Court clerk's office had returned to Trump's attorneys the bond filing "for correction." There was no reason publicly specified in the request for correction.
Adam Pollock, a former assistant attorney general in New York, said, "This bond is deficient for a number of reasons."
"Including that the company doesn't appear to be licensed in New York and doesn't appear to have enough capital to make this undertaking," Pollock said...
The billionaire behind Trump's bond is Don Hankey, the chairman of Knight Insurance, which owns the subsidiary that wrote the bond.
Hankey said that Trump used "cash" as collateral for the bond, a total of $175 million.
"First he furnished about $120 million worth of bonds that we OK'd, so we assumed it would be investment-grade bonds and cash. But as it turned out, it was all cash," he told CBS News in a brief phone call on Tuesday.
But Trump retained that $175 million cash collateral, according to Shah. He said the money is in an account that is "pledged" to the company. He would not specify the type of account. Trump paid a premium to the company that Shah declined to disclose.
Wow.
Just... wow.