Trump’s Bond Backer Repo’d Soldier Cars
When billionaire financier Don Hankey underwrote Donald Trump’s $175 million bond this week, it wasn’t the first time that Trump had taken money out of his pocket—nine months into Trump’s first term in office, his Justice Department sued Hankey’s financial company for unlawful lending practices.
The subject of that suit, however, also revealed a historical commonality with Trump: disrespecting members of the U.S. military.
According to the settlement agreement in the case, Hankey’s company—Westlake Services—had systematically violated the rights of military employees over a period of several years, illegally repossessing dozens of cars in violation of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. Westlake immediately settled, agreeing to pay $700,000 in damages to the affected servicemembers, along with a roughly $61,000 fine to the federal government.