Donald Trump Will Have To Sell Mar-a-Lago, George Conway Says

Donald Trump may have to sell Mar-a-Lago as part of potential legal damages from his civil fraud trial in New York, an attorney has said.

Speaking to Jen Psaki on MSBC's Inside with Jen Psaki, George Conway, a prominent critic of the former president, said Trump will have to "liquidate everything," including his prized Florida resort after he was in found to have committed fraud.

The trial stems from a lawsuit New York Attorney General Letitia James filed in 2022, alleging that Trump and top executives at The Trump Organization conspired to increase his net worth by billions of dollars on financial statements provided to banks and insurers to make deals and secure loans.

In September, Judge Arthur Engoron issued a partial summary in the civil fraud trial, stating that they committed fraud. He ruled that Trump grossly inflated the value of his assets to obtain more favorable terms from lenders and insurers.

"The documents here clearly contain fraudulent valuations that defendants used in business," Engoron wrote.

James is seeking $250 million in damages, as well as the revocation of Trump's business licenses. The judge has granted the latter request, but his decision is on hold pending an appeal filed by Trump's team. The former president has denied any wrongdoing in the case.

Discussing the case yesterday, Conway said the decision was "a death blow to Trump's businesses."

"He's already been found to have committed fraud, that his books and records, that his statements of financial condition, are false," he said.

"And the judge has already ruled that there was no triable issue of fact on whether or not they were false. And as a result, the judge said, ordered, that Trump and The Trump Organization, [their] ability to do business in the state of New York should be invalidated."

He added: "And that puts him out of business, which means he's going to have to liquidate everything—including places like Mar-a-Lago, which are owned by New York LLCs (Limited Liability Companies). But then the question of how much of the proceeds of those sales, when he has to be put out of business, go to the state of New York. And that's what this is about."

He added: "Their right to do business in New York is canceled, as is the certificates of incorporation of the various LLCs and companies that he himself owns that are incorporated in New York. So, he can't do business."

"This is a death blow to Trump's businesses," he concluded.

Trump's children are expected to testify from Wednesday to Friday in the case. while the former president himself is expected to take the stand the following Monday, November 6.

Meanwhile, the Republican is facing other legal battles this week, with the state of Colorado yesterday commencing a trial to decide whether he should be barred from the state's presidential ballot in 2024 under the 14th Amendment's ban on insurrectionists running for office.

Trump's representatives have called the lawsuit "political."

"This is a political lawsuit meant to prevent President Trump from standing for election and to block Colorado voters from having the opportunity to vote for him," his lawyers wrote in a court filing.

They added: "Colorado statute provides no basis for barring a presidential candidate under the 14th Amendment. And President Trump never advocated for or incited violence on January 6, 2021."

Newsweek has contacted a representative for Trump via email for comment.