“Shark Tank” host and investor Kevin O’Leary slammed New York Attorney General Letitia James’ (D) attempts to seize assets from former President Trump in relation to his recent civil fraud trial Friday.
“Property rights are mentioned 37 times in the Constitution. Due process — very important. Why steal someone’s assets in 27 days? Why not give them more time to come up with the cash — forget about Donald Trump — who would want this to happen to them?” O’Leary told Laura Ingraham, host of “The Ingraham Angle,” during a Friday appearance.
O’Leary said his vitriol at the decision had nothing to do with the former president, but with the dissolution of the “essence of the American brand.” In attempts to raise $3 billion to build a data center in America, the famed investor told Ingraham he’d be traveling the globe next week.
“The number one question I have, when I go to these countries to try and raise this capital is, ‘What the hell is going on in New York?’”
“It’s – and I tell them, ‘It’s not America, it’s just an anomaly. I swear to you, everybody, this is not America,’” O’Leary continued.
James’ office filed judgements earlier this month in Westchester County, public records show, where Trump has a golf resort and private estate, a first step towards seizing the assets. Trump faces a Monday deadline to pay a $454 million bond due in the civil fraud case and if he doesn’t, James has said she may seize some of his assets.
On Friday, Trump claimed in a Truth Social post that he has nearly $500 million in cash, despite his lawyers previously indicating that he cannot secure the bond in his civil fraud case.
“THROUGH HARD WORK, TALENT, AND LUCK, I CURRENTLY HAVE ALMOST FIVE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS IN CASH, A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF WHICH I INTENDED TO USE IN MY CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT,” Trump wrote.
In a Monday filing, Trump’s attorneys said they have spent “countless hours negotiating with one of the largest insurance companies in the world” and approached 30 companies to back the bond, but to no avail.
“The amount of the judgement, with interest, exceeds $464 million, and very few bonding companies will consider a bond of anything approaching that magnitude,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in the filing.