Following the fraud judgment against him in New York that is now nearing $460 million, Donald Trump’s lawyers have maintained that he doesn’t have the cash on hand to post bond or pay up. Even as the billionaire claims he has $500 million in cash and the appeals work their way through the courts, New York Attorney General Letitia James hinted on Thursday at where she might look to collect on some of the money Trump owes the state. She filed the judgment in Westchester County, New York, a plush jurisdiction of 1 million people where Trump owns two properties: a golf course in Briarcliff Manor and the Seven Springs estate in Bedford.
Forbes toured the opulent Seven Springs estate, purchased by the Trumps in 1996, a decade ago alongside Trump’s son Eric. He told our reporter that as kids, he and his brother would mow the lawns and do other work on the property, which he boasted features three pools and 15 bedrooms. “I’ve spent so much of my life here, and spent so much time learning the art of the deal on this property,” Eric said.
Eric also hinted at the family’s plans for the estate. He claimed to have “approval to build 14 houses” on the land, mansions that would supposedly sit on some 20 acres of land each. “Who knows whether we’ll do it and when we’ll do it,” he added. “It’s nice to have the ability to do things.” The Trumps apparently valued the property at some $290 million in total, but even then, Forbes cast serious doubt on that—reporting our own estimate of $19.5 million at the time.
As it turns out, Eric Trump’s development and valuation claims were faulty. The property’s valuation, reported as $161 million on his father’s statements of financial condition for several years, was based on a lot of things that didn’t happen. It “assumed a host of future events that had not—and as hindsight has shown, would not—occur, including that the Trump Organization had received legal permission to develop the lots, that the mansions were already built and available for sale, and that there would be no construction or development costs associated with building the mansions,” Judge Arthur Engoron wrote in his February judgment against the Trumps.
Where the possibility of “14 houses” came from is also unclear—Engoron noted that the proposed development was only seven mansions, plus the two already on the property. A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office pointed to their original lawsuit against the Trumps, which noted claims on official documents that the property was zoned for nine homes, not fourteen. A spokesperson for the Trump Organization declined to comment on the record.
Now, thanks to the fraud case, the property Eric Trump called “special” to him and his family may be in the crosshairs of New York State. Valued by Forbes at an estimated $25 million, Seven Springs could soon be under new management once again. For an inside look at the property, here’s Forbes’ video report from 2014.
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