Billionaire whose firm backed Trump's $175 million bond reveals how the deal came together

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNN Business

Updated 2:53 PM EDT, Tue April 2, 2024


CNN — Don Hankey, the chairman and majority shareholder of Knight Specialty Insurance, told CNN on Tuesday that the deal to underwrite former President Donald Trump’s $175 million bond in New York came together quickly and that Trump posted all cash as collateral. “It’s what we do. I’m happy to do it. We would have done it for anybody else,” Hankey said in a phone interview. “It was an easy transaction. It was put together very quickly.”

Based in California, Knight Specialty Insurance is known for providing subprime auto loans to car buyers with weaker credit scores. Hankey, who has supported Trump’s presidential campaigns, said initially he reached out to the Trump Organization last month when the former president was having trouble putting together a bond of $464 million. Hankey has amassed a fortune that Forbes values at $7.4 billion.

“We had a conversation about putting together a bond of that size,” Hankey told CNN. After the amount of the bond was slashed to $175 million by a New York appeals court, the Trump team eventually reached back out to Knight Specialty, according to Hankey.

At first, Trump planned to post a mix of investment-grade bonds and cash as collateral (80% bonds and 20% cash), Hankey said. Although Knight Specialty received the bonds and approved them, he said they were not posted in the end. “Ultimately, he put up all cash,” Hankey said, adding that he does not know where the $175 million in cash that Trump posted came from.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/02/investing/trump-bond-firm/index.html

[yankee87]

1. Money came from

The money TFG got is from his master, Putin.

[hlthe2b]

3. Yeah... Who could guess that?

[pfitz59]

2. Trump is likely using campaign cash

surely must be an FEC violation

[mucifer]

5. Is there such a thing anymore?

[brooklynite]

7. Not a violation because it didn't happen

I don’t care what people imagine Trump WANTS to do. You can’t reroute $17.5 M from an FEC campaign account. Someone who’s not Trump will have to report the outflow and won’t want to go to jail. Also, an outflow that large would be a huge hit to what the campaign is doing.

[peppertree]

11. Yes - but enforced by whom? Our banana republic-level FEC?

Where all enforcement is essentially blocked by one party at will and at whim - and with no recourse.

[moniss]

12. I would imagine that he himself is not worried

in the least about an FEC fine. At his age by the time a fine would even be levied he may likely be gone. I agree with you about underlings being reluctant. But I believe they would try to justify all of this as simply paying his "legal costs" and fighting in court to defend including the bond in that definition.

[brooklynite]

16. Then all you need to do is check the FEC records to know if it happened.

[moniss]

17. We need to remember that FEC filings

get "corrected" even years after an original filing. Things suddenly appear that weren't there before.

[brooklynite]

18. Not by $17 M.

But if people want to imagine conspiracies, nothing will stop them.

[moniss]

19. It's not a matter of imagining

a conspiracy. I don't know which one you might be referring to but I do know we can point to several instances of fraudulent conduct by this fellow that far exceed $17 million. He didn't stop after the first crooked scam so why would he be bothered now?

[brooklynite]

24. Not with the FEC.

Whether or not you imagine he's cheating, and whether or not you believe the FEC will act on fraud, the money in still has to be matched to the money out.

[moniss]

27. The FEC files are filled with forms that balance the money in

and out and yet are filled with lies about the what, the who and the why.

[cab67]

37. Trump, alone, wouldn't be able to move that amount of campaign cash.

He may not care, but I would imagine there are others involved who would.

[moniss]

38. Some campaigns

also slush the money through various "consulting" firm contracts and some finds it's way back under the table so to speak to the candidate or to a financial firm who then "loans" money to the candidate on a personal basis.

[gilpo]

4. We absolutely need to know where the money came from

It's critical to know who TFG owes.

[eggplant]

6. if trump had $175M in cash, why did he need the bond in the first place?

why wouldn't he just put up the cash with the court?

or is it because he didn't /actually/ hand the cash over to this guy, just showed him that it theoretically existed?

[moniss]

10. Bingo and

the question of financial back and forth in this can be very suspicious as well.

[brooklynite]

25. He didn't.

The Bond is generally 10% (plus fees) of the expected total amount.

[ToxMarz]

28. Hankey may have gotten $175 million in cash to cover the bond

but it wouldn't have been Trumps cash as you said because he could do that himself. He had to go through the bond to hide/launder the source of the money.

[JoseBalow]

8. Birds of a feather flock together

[twodogsbarking]

9. In other news Trump's Flaming Bibles, Inc. is now valued at 175 million.

[Cheezoholic]

13. A Buy Here Pay Here billionaire in Amerika. Imagine that n/t

[moniss]

14. I would suggest

requesting a review report from the overseer that is monitoring his NY companies for all significant transaction amounts for the last 6 months at least. Did this group of companies "loan" him money he is simply now handing back? Promise of future business and big "cash flows" from foreign "friends" doing cash real estate deals? Lot's of financial transactions to profit from to more than make back the $175 million? Has there been some recent huge deposits in the bank? Big transfers? Lots of questions.

[gab13by13]

15. I don't believe 1 fucking word

That comes from Hankey’s mouth.

Trump moved money a year ago to Axos bank.

[SouthernDem4ever]

20. See if Putin withdrew 15,998,440,749.88 Rubles recently.

[catbyte]

21. Gee, a shady sub-prime lender that exploits desperate people gets in bed with the Slobfather.

Quelle surprise.

[jaxexpat]

36. Me too. Imagine, the scion of totally respectable slum lords dealing with sub-prime repo artists.

* No legs were broken in the writing of this totally free speech endowed critique. It was an accident, falling down the stairs. Angry stairs.

BTW, did Parker and Stone write this script? Has Cartman set up this whole thing from the beginning?

[IbogaProject]

22. Of course TFG used some Hankey Pankey to cover his bond

.

[iluvtennis]

23. This Hankey says TSF put up 100% cash as collateral vs 80% bonds and 20% cash. If TSF put up all

Last edited Tue Apr 2, 2024, 11:12 PM - Edit history (1)

cash collateral why did he need Hankey - he could have paid the bond himself. Something smelly here.

[drray23]

29. He put up 10 % or about 17.5 millions.

Typically you put up 10 % and the bond company assumes the risk for the rest.

[iluvtennis]

31. Ok. Thanks for clarifying as the article wasn't clear. n/t

[dlk]

26. Hinky Hankey can kiss his $ millions goodbye

Trump is a guaranteed loser.

[niyad]

33. He is not worried about the money at all. Somebody guaranteed it.

[dlk]

39. You're probably right, however, whomever the guarantor may be

It’s pretty much a given, they will lose their money. Putin has deep pockets, though.

[truthisfreedom]

30. Learn from history

Or you’re doomed to repeat it.

[niyad]

32. DU'er Kpete posted an OP yesterday about hankey and his scummy,

shady dealings. It referred to an article in Roll8ng Stone, 13 March 2022, "The Totally Dodgy Backstory of the Bank That Refinanced t#### tower", by Tim Dickinson and Andy Kroll. Absolutely disgusting. Completely unsurprising. (note: I managed to read the entire sickening article yesterday, but when I went back just now, hit a paywall.)

[muriel_volestrangler]

34. I'm guessing the word "ambassador" came into it (nt)

[maxrandb]

35. The most evil, corrupt, fraudulent Used Car Salesman

received a "bond" from the subprime auto-loan king.

Nothing to see here, move along.