It wasn’t that way back, just before the 2016 presidential election to be exact, that Donald Trump made the next claim: His net price was in “excess of TEN BILLION DOLLARS.”
The Donald’s humblebrag got here in a press release as he prepared his first and successful run for the White House.
Presumably, he used all caps for emphasis.
His wealth and success as a businessman (real estate and reality TV) made him uniquely suited to be president and fix the country’s manifold problems that the political class couldn’t.
Yes, all of us find out about Trump’s propensity to be a blowhard but even by his bloviating standards, it is tough to square what’s happening now.
He has been reduced to begging banks, and even his loyal MAGA supporters, to pay down what needs to be a pittance for somebody along with his alleged wealth: A $454 million civil judgment from a Latest York state judge within the dubious civil bank-fraud case brought by hyper-ambitious state Attorney General Tish James.
James’ case is a joke on so many levels, it’s still a mystery how she found a sentient judge to agree together with her.
She’s claiming Trump exaggerated the worth of his condo in Trump Tower on a loan application with Deutsche Bank, which had no complaints in regards to the deal since the bank did its own due diligence.
Trump was good for the cash.
The judge within the case, Arthur Engoron, could also be sentient or might not be.
What is definite is that he suits comfortably into the mold of a political hack almost as much as James, who ran for office promising the Democratic base to seek out a criminal offense, any crime, for which to bust Trump as he equipped to run for president once more — even when it’s a victimless one.
Victimless but serious: Trump has until Monday to either give you the cash his lawyers say he doesn’t really have or secure a bond to cover that quantity, which no bank or insurance company seems willing to do as this column goes to press.
He could also ask his coterie of billionaire pals for the cash, but for now, in addition they don’t seem too desperate to pony up.
Late Friday, Trump said he miraculously got here up with the money, but doesn’t need to use it.
So now what happens?
Trump has previously claimed to be price over $10 billion. REUTERS
So what’s occurring with all those many billions of dollars Trump was presupposed to have at his disposal, and what’s going to occur Monday if he doesn’t meet the court’s demands?
First, should you know anything about what Trump thinks he’s price and what others say he’s price, it’s been a fraught relationship.
The Donald has been known to badger Forbes magazine, which publishes a well-liked annual rating of the world’s richest people, to inflate their estimates of his price.
He once unsuccessfully sued a reporter who speculated he’s price significantly lower than $1 billion.
Forbes, as of September 2023, estimates Trump’s net price at $2.6 billion — which makes him still very wealthy.
On top of that, Trump is a looming massive payday, because the investment vehicle holding his Truth Social social-media platform is ready to go public.
It could provide an enormous payday for Trump, as much as $3.4 billion.
But there are complications.
The deal to bring Truth Social public through a merger with a so-called SPAC has attracted some serious litigation, and in keeping with the corporate’s regulatory filings, Trump wouldn’t give you the chance to sell his shares for six months.
Shares of the SPAC, referred to as Digital World Acquisition, have greater than doubled to around $37 in recent months with Trump wrapping up the GOP nomination for this 12 months’s presidential election against Sleepy Joe Biden.
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Yet Truth Social has a fraction of the traffic of Elon Musk’s X and if X is having a tough time making a living (Musk keeps complaining it does) that may go double for Truth Social.
Trump’s stake could possibly be price far less when he can money it in.
Meanwhile, his existing shares probably can’t be used as collateral for a loan, I’m told by securities lawyers; ditto for his largely illiquid real estate holdings in Latest York where industrial real estate isn’t exactly a booming business.
Who knows what he could get for Trump National Doral in Miami and even the swanky Mar-a-Lago golf and country club in Palm Beach if he needed to sell on the spot.
Most of all, Trump has all the time had little available money, even less so now after doling out $83 million to satisfy the judgment within the E. Jean Carroll defamation case he’s also attempting to appeal.
So what does a cash-poor billionaire looking at a $454 million judgment to do?
Pray for a change of heart from Tom Barrack, Bernie Marcus or Howie Lorber, his billionaire pals who could write the check and keep Tish James from chaining the front door of Trump Tower come Monday morning.
Possibly beg Musk for a couple of dollars.
Or possibly pray that James seizes his Westchester properties and stops there (highly doubtful, knowing James).
Or agrees to less money because she is frightened that Trump dumping all his Latest York properties without delay could further depress town’s industrial real estate market.
Trump could play real hardball — which he actually knows the right way to do, given his long and tortured history of doing business.
As I first reported, Trump advisers are weighing whether to show over all of the properties to James and let her determine the complexities of ownership, including his limited partners, until she gets to Trump’s share.
By the point that happens, the case can have been successfully overturned on appeal for all its ludicrousness.