signalmankenneth
Verified User
Can Trump's base raise half a billion dollars? I seriously doubt it?!! And we have not even gotten to the capitol police lawsuits against Trump yet?!!
In a matter of weeks, Donald Trump was hit with two giant penalties from two civil trials in New York – $83m for defamation against the writer E Jean Carroll and $354.9m for inflating the value of his assets on government financial statements.
The verdicts combined will cost him some $438m, and that’s only part of what Trump could owe across numerous lawsuits. The payments will probably create a sizable dent in his wallet. Bloomberg’s billionaires’ list estimated that Trump’s net worth in 2021 was about $2.3bn, meaning these two rulings alone could take out almost a fifth of Trump’s net worth.
Trump’s finances have been notoriously opaque, not least because the Trump Organization is a private business, meaning it does not have to file public financial reports. But here’s what we know about what Trump has to pay and how it will affect his finances
It all depends on the appeals
Trump is likely to appeal both cases, the outcomes of which could affect how much he ends up owing. It is unclear how long the appeals will take. For reference, an appeals court has yet to rule on a May 2023 ruling for a separate Carroll case that found Trump guilty of sexual abuse and defamation. Trump was ordered to pay $5m in damages in that case.
Also, the appeals court is technically considering two appeals coming out of Trump’s fraud trial. The first appeal came after a September pre-trial ruling found Trump guilty of fraud, ordering the removal of his business licenses. The second appeal is about the penalty the New York judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump to pay after the months-long trial. It is unclear whether the appeals court will decide on the two appeals together or separately, but it will probably be at least a few months before any decision is announced.
Bankruptcy for Trump is unlikely
While $438m is no small sum, Trump is wealthy. Trump ally Rudy Giuliani declared bankruptcy after a jury ordered him to pay $148m to two Georgia election workers; the former New York mayor has declared he owes between $100m and $500m and has assets of between $1m and $10m.
To declare bankruptcy, Trump would have to prove that the verdict outweighs his assets, something that is highly unlikely.
During a deposition with prosecutors for the fraud trial in April 2023, Trump said that he had more than $400m in cash. However, last year, Forbes reported that Trump had since invested the bulk of his cash in bonds and treasuries, with a small portion kept in stocks and mutual funds. After his guilty verdicts, Trump will probably have to sell a good chunk of those investments.
A big question is whether Trump will have to touch anything in his real estate portfolio. Trump has gotten a cash boost from selling his properties before: he sold his golf club in the Bronx last year, and in 2022, he completed the sale of the Old Post Office building in Washington DC, which was converted into a hotel. Court documents showed that the sale of the Old Post Office netted $131.4m before taxes, according to the New York Times.
It will be a tough decision for a man who, just several years ago, claimed he was worth $10bn. This pride in his wealth has recently been used against him. In closing arguments in Carroll’s January trial, her lawyers told the jury that they should punish Trump with higher damages precisely because he claims he is so wealthy.
“A billionaire like Donald Trump could pay a million dollars a day for 10 years and still have money left in the bank,” Carroll attorney’s Roberta Kaplan told the jury on 26 January. “It will take an unusually high punitive damages award to have any hope of stopping Donald Trump.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/16/how-will-trump-pay-trial-penalties
In a matter of weeks, Donald Trump was hit with two giant penalties from two civil trials in New York – $83m for defamation against the writer E Jean Carroll and $354.9m for inflating the value of his assets on government financial statements.
The verdicts combined will cost him some $438m, and that’s only part of what Trump could owe across numerous lawsuits. The payments will probably create a sizable dent in his wallet. Bloomberg’s billionaires’ list estimated that Trump’s net worth in 2021 was about $2.3bn, meaning these two rulings alone could take out almost a fifth of Trump’s net worth.
Trump’s finances have been notoriously opaque, not least because the Trump Organization is a private business, meaning it does not have to file public financial reports. But here’s what we know about what Trump has to pay and how it will affect his finances
It all depends on the appeals
Trump is likely to appeal both cases, the outcomes of which could affect how much he ends up owing. It is unclear how long the appeals will take. For reference, an appeals court has yet to rule on a May 2023 ruling for a separate Carroll case that found Trump guilty of sexual abuse and defamation. Trump was ordered to pay $5m in damages in that case.
Also, the appeals court is technically considering two appeals coming out of Trump’s fraud trial. The first appeal came after a September pre-trial ruling found Trump guilty of fraud, ordering the removal of his business licenses. The second appeal is about the penalty the New York judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump to pay after the months-long trial. It is unclear whether the appeals court will decide on the two appeals together or separately, but it will probably be at least a few months before any decision is announced.
Bankruptcy for Trump is unlikely
While $438m is no small sum, Trump is wealthy. Trump ally Rudy Giuliani declared bankruptcy after a jury ordered him to pay $148m to two Georgia election workers; the former New York mayor has declared he owes between $100m and $500m and has assets of between $1m and $10m.
To declare bankruptcy, Trump would have to prove that the verdict outweighs his assets, something that is highly unlikely.
During a deposition with prosecutors for the fraud trial in April 2023, Trump said that he had more than $400m in cash. However, last year, Forbes reported that Trump had since invested the bulk of his cash in bonds and treasuries, with a small portion kept in stocks and mutual funds. After his guilty verdicts, Trump will probably have to sell a good chunk of those investments.
A big question is whether Trump will have to touch anything in his real estate portfolio. Trump has gotten a cash boost from selling his properties before: he sold his golf club in the Bronx last year, and in 2022, he completed the sale of the Old Post Office building in Washington DC, which was converted into a hotel. Court documents showed that the sale of the Old Post Office netted $131.4m before taxes, according to the New York Times.
It will be a tough decision for a man who, just several years ago, claimed he was worth $10bn. This pride in his wealth has recently been used against him. In closing arguments in Carroll’s January trial, her lawyers told the jury that they should punish Trump with higher damages precisely because he claims he is so wealthy.
“A billionaire like Donald Trump could pay a million dollars a day for 10 years and still have money left in the bank,” Carroll attorney’s Roberta Kaplan told the jury on 26 January. “It will take an unusually high punitive damages award to have any hope of stopping Donald Trump.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/16/how-will-trump-pay-trial-penalties
