Kevin O'Leary Slams Threat to Take Trump’s Properties

Kevin O’Leary, chairman of O'Leary Ventures, testifies before the House Committee on Small Business during a hearing at the Rayburn House Office Building on January 18, 2024, in Washington. Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

Investor and Shark Tank host Kevin O’Leary has expressed further concerns about the potential seizure of former President Donald Trump’s assets in New York, calling the litigious situation “scary.”

On Feb. 16, the New York Supreme Court ordered President Trump to pay $355 million in damages related to a controversial fraud case.

A few days later, New York Attorney General Letitia James said she was prepared to seize the former president’s buildings and other assets if he is unable to pay the penalty.

Commenting on the matter, Mr. O'Leary said in a Feb. 26 interview with Fox that he was “very concerned about the next step of seizing assets.”

“Capital comes to America because of the stability of the justice system. And this is not stable in terms of many people’s eyes domestically and internationally. Seizing assets is what happens in Venezuela. It doesn’t happen in New York. And so this is a little scary.”

President Trump was sued for fraud by Ms. James. The focus of the lawsuit was the annual statements of The Trump Organization. These were marketing documents in which executives summarized their estimated asset values and calculated the net worth of the former president.

The New York Supreme Court decided that the asset values were routinely inflated and that these inflated values were used to secure deals with banks and insurers, thus allegedly causing these institutions to take undue risks.

However, President Trump’s defense pointed out that no harm was done through the transactions and there were no victims.

Zurich Insurance Group and Deutsche Bank also testified that they had conducted their own analysis of asset values when doing business with The Trump Organization. Yet, Judge Arthur Engoran went ahead and imposed a $355 million fine on President Trump.

Asked about how this will affect business in New York, Mr. O'Leary said that “developers are all asking the same question.

“Is this fine, penalty, and interest commensurate with the act, the crime, so to speak? Because remember, there’s no money lost. There’s no victim here.

“So essentially just under half a billion dollar fine for a situation where no money was lost and the harmed party, supposedly the banks, were fully paid back.”

“So we’re just wondering, does this make sense? And asking ourselves, how long will it take for the appellate court to bring it down to what a reasonable number might be? I have no idea what that is. But in the meantime, while this is going through the system, none of us wants to put new money to work in New York until it gets resolved.”

Investments Exit New York

During the Fox interview, the host also asked Mr. O’Leary about New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s recent comments asking investors not to worry about the consequences of the Trump judgment. Mr. O’Leary said that the judgment will affect the business environment in New York.

He pointed out that AI data centers are a hot area of commercial real estate development and that New York is one of the top states for hydropower and inexpensive electricity.

“So you'd think New York would want one of those. But I don’t know an AI developer or a data center developer that’s looking at New York right now.”

“So it’s a quiet exit of capital leaving New York. It’s going to places like North Dakota, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Montana, Tennessee.”

Mr. O’Leary noted that the governors of states like Oklahoma, North Dakota, and West Virginia are “business people” who don’t seize assets.

“They provide permits. It’s a different business environment. So New York is no longer on that list. And I’m sad about this because my kids live in New York. I want New York to be successful. I’m sick about this.”

In an earlier interview with Fox following the Trump ruling, Mr. O’Leary called New York a “mega loser state” for business.

“New York was already a loser state, like California’s a loser state. … There are many loser states because of policy, high taxes, uncompetitive regulation. It was already on the top of the list of being a loser state. I would never invest in New York now.”

Meanwhile, private equity fund manager Grant Cardone, owner of real estate investment firm Cardone Capital, has also said he won’t be investing in New York.

“Cardone Capital just started to research real estate investments in New York believing it was time to get into the market. After the overreach by the judge in the Trump case & penalties imposed of $355M I told the team do NOT waste time in New York,” he said in a Feb. 20 X post.

Instead, Cardone Capital will now double its efforts in Florida, Arizona, Texas, and Tennessee, he stated.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) hit out at Ms. Hochul’s statements on the ruling.

The New York governor has “assured real estate developers that the government will not go after them like they have gone after Donald Trump. In other words, if you don’t make Democrats angry, you won’t get sued, he said in a Feb. 19 X post.

“But if you do, you'll get the Donald Trump treatment.

“This is not due process of law or the equal protection of the law, and the governor brazenly admitted it.”