Don Hankey, CEO Who Backed Donald Trump's Bond, Under Scrutiny

Don Hankey, the chair of the company that helped Donald Trump pay his civil fraud bond, has come under scrutiny because of the company's ongoing relationship with the Trump family and its links to another company that has been the subject of controversy.

On April 1, the former president posted a $175 million bond, preventing the state from seizing his assets while he appeals a ruling that he and top executives at The Trump Organization inflated the value of his assets to obtain more favorable terms from lenders and insurers.

In his ruling, Judge Arthur Engoron originally said Trump would have to pay about $464 million in penalties for fraud, plus interest, but the former president succeeded in getting the bond reduced.

Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election, then secured the bond through Knight Specialty Insurance Company, which is owned by the privately held Hankey Group. Hankey heads both organizations.

He is also the largest individual shareholder in the internet bank Axos, holding 6 percent of the company, Forbes reported.

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, legal analyst Lisa Rubin scrutinized Hankey and Axos. She said the business owner was known as the "king of subprime car loans."

Axos refinanced Trump Tower in 2022 for $100 million. Meanwhile, the bank has financed real-estate transactions with Jared Kushner's Kushner Companies. Kushner is married to Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and served as an adviser in Trump's administration.

The bank has been the subject of lawsuits. In 2015, Charles Matthew Erhart, a company whistleblower, filed a lawsuit against Axos alleging unlawful retaliation for being fired after he raised concerns about practices at the bank. In May 2022, he was awarded $1 million in damages for emotional distress or harm to his reputation and $500,000 for defamatory statements about him.

He has said the bank had dubious business practices, including allowing criminal borrowers, and that CEO Gregory Garrabrants had deposited third-party checks into his personal account. The bank has consistently denied these allegations.

The bank has also been criticized for charging high interest rates. In 2021, Senator Elizabeth Warren called out the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Axos' federal regulator, for not taking enforcement action against Axos over a loan with a 92 percent interest rate.

Financial disclosures also show that Hankey has donated to Republican causes, including Trump's 2016 campaign and Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign. In his business, Hankey offers loans to credit-challenged car buyers, Forbes reported.

Newsweek contacted Hankey, Axos and a representative for Trump for comment by email.

After helping Trump pay his bond, Hankey told ABC News that he is a Trump supporter.

"This is what we do at Knight Insurance, and we're happy to be able to accommodate the ex-president in this situation," Hankey said "I'd say it's more of a business decision, but I happen to be a supporter also."

"It was a relatively low number, and Donald Trump put up all the collateral in cash," he added.

On Truth Social, the former president wrote about his bond payment: "I've just posted a 175 Million Dollar Bond with the sadly failing and very troubled State of New York, based on a Corrupt Judge and Attorney General who used a Statute that was never used for this before, where no Jury was allowed, my financial statements were conservative and had a 100% perfect caution/non-reliance clause, there were no victims (except me!), there was no crime or damage, there was only success and HAPPY BANKS."

"As promised, President Trump has posted bond," Alina Habba, Trump's attorney, said in a statement on April 1. "He looks forward to vindicating his rights on appeal and overturning this unjust verdict."