Don Hankey: Billionaire who backed Trump's $175M fraud case bond says it was not a 'political statement'
WASHINGTON, DC: Knight Specialty Insurance's chairman and top shareholder, Don Hankey, informed CNN on Tuesday, April 2, that the agreement to underwrite former President Donald Trump's $175 million bond in New York came together swiftly and that Trump pledged all of his funds as security.
During a phone interview with CNN, Hankey said, "It’s what we do. I’m happy to do it. We would have done it for anybody else. It was an easy transaction. It was put together very quickly."
The Washington Post claims that without Hankey's assistance, Trump would have needed to use his funds to pay the bail or the government would have started to seize his assets.
With just weeks to locate the money and almost $450 million in fines from two separate cases, the site speculated that Trump would have considered filing for bankruptcy.
Who is Don Hankey?
According to Forbes, Hankey is worth $7.4 billion, although his assets total over $22.5 billion, including his Los Angeles-based auto services empire, Hankey Group. He is renowned as the 'little-known king of subprime car loans.'
Moreover, Forbes stated, "His Westlake Financial Services works with more than 30,000 car dealerships in all 50 states to provide car loans to people with bad, or no, credit. The Hankey Group also includes a real estate firm and a Toyota dealership, plus auto insurance, rental car and dealer software companies."
Before working as an auto salesperson at his father's Ford dealership in Los Angeles, Forbes stated that Hankey spent his adolescent years as a lot boy, cleaning and polishing vehicles. Upon acquiring his father's business in 1972, he started 'extending loans to people with poor credit'.
Why did Don Hankey help Trump?
As per the Washington Post, Hankey 'promptly agreed' to pay the bail using one of his firms, which is a subsidiary of Knight Insurance. However, Trump was charged a 'modest fee'.
He claimed that his actions were a 'good business deal, not a political statement', but he would not reveal the sum.
Hankey said, "I’m chairman of the board of several companies, and we just carry on our business and we try to stay away from political issues or taking sides. I will support him in the future, but I wouldn’t consider myself a major supporter."
Although he has given to Democrats as well, he told the Washington Post that the bulk of his donations have benefited Republicans.
Hankey provides empathy to Donald Trump's legal defense
Don Hankey paid the former president's bond as a result of Trump's legal team's defense in the New York civil lawsuit, according to the Washington Post. Trump's defense claimed that the loans were entirely returned and that it was standard practice for him to overvalue his assets, leading to his conviction for fraud.
Hankey said, "Quite often when credit statements or financial statements are submitted to (Westlake Financial Services), the values are exaggerated on some of the assets. I would say it probably happens on 75 percent of our applications."
In February, state Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron and New York Attorney General Letitia James decided that Trump, several of his businesses, his two eldest sons, and former executives were held civilly liable for fraud for fabricating information about the true value of the former president's assets to secure better interest rates.
