The former president has plenty of valuable assets he could borrow against to pay his legal penalties. Here’s the math behind his path forward.
New York attorney general Letitia James vowed this week to seize Donald Trump’s assets if he could not pay the roughly $454 million he now owes the state. But make no mistake: Trump’s balance sheet is strong enough for him to pay his penalties—without selling a thing.
Trump, who Forbes most recently estimated to be worth $2.6 billion, owes New York State over $350 million, plus around $100 million (and climbing every day) in interest, and he owes some $88 million to the writer E. Jean Carroll for sexual abuse and defamation verdicts against him. He has around $400 million of liquid assets on hand, so he could simply write a check to pay much of what he owes right now. To cover the rest, though, Trump, who once called himself the “king of debt,” could go another route. He could theoretically borrow money against one or more of the 27 mortgage-free properties in his portfolio, which are collectively worth more than $1.1 billion.
Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kylemullins/2024/02/23/heres-why-trump-wont-have-to-sell-any-buildings-to-come-up-with-540-million/?sh=13e899521cf8
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New York attorney general Letitia James vowed this week to seize Donald Trump’s assets if he could not pay the roughly $454 million he now owes the state. But make no mistake: Trump’s balance sheet is strong enough for him to pay his penalties—without selling a thing.
Trump, who Forbes most recently estimated to be worth $2.6 billion, owes New York State over $350 million, plus around $100 million (and climbing every day) in interest, and he owes some $88 million to the writer E. Jean Carroll for sexual abuse and defamation verdicts against him. He has around $400 million of liquid assets on hand, so he could simply write a check to pay much of what he owes right now. To cover the rest, though, Trump, who once called himself the “king of debt,” could go another route. He could theoretically borrow money against one or more of the 27 mortgage-free properties in his portfolio, which are collectively worth more than $1.1 billion.
Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kylemullins/2024/02/23/heres-why-trump-wont-have-to-sell-any-buildings-to-come-up-with-540-million/?sh=13e899521cf8
Forbes Daily Briefing shares the best of Forbes reporting on wealth, business, entrepreneurship, leadership and more. Tune in every day, seven days a week, to hear a new story. Subscribe here: https://art19.com/shows/forbes-daily-briefing
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Tuesday, February 27.
00:05 Today on Forbes, here's why Trump won't have to sell any buildings to come up with $540
00:11 million.
00:12 New York Attorney General Letitia James vowed last week to seize Donald Trump's assets
00:19 if he could not pay the roughly $454 million he now owes the state.
00:24 Trump's lawyers appealed the civil fraud judgment yesterday.
00:28 But make no mistake, Trump's balance sheet is strong enough for him to pay his penalties
00:33 without selling a thing.
00:36 Trump, who Forbes most recently estimated to be worth $2.6 billion, owes New York State
00:43 over $350 million, plus around $100 million in interest, which is climbing every day.
00:49 And he owes some $88 million to the writer E. Jean Carroll for sexual abuse and defamation
00:55 verdicts against him.
00:57 Trump has around $400 million of liquid assets on hand, so he could simply write a check
01:02 to pay much of what he owes right now.
01:05 To cover the rest, though, Trump, who once called himself the so-called "king of debt,"
01:11 could go another route.
01:12 He could theoretically borrow money against one or more of the 27 mortgage-free properties
01:17 in his portfolio, which are collectively worth more than $1.1 billion.
01:24 The most valuable asset Trump could try to wring cash from is likely Mar-a-Lago, his
01:29 glitzy Palm Beach, Florida club, which Forbes recently estimated is worth just shy of $300
01:34 million.
01:35 But he has a long list of other assets he could also borrow against.
01:40 His 10 U.S. golf courses are collectively worth over $250 million, and he just recently
01:46 cleared away the remaining debt on courses in New Jersey and Virginia, leaving the entire
01:50 portfolio mortgage-free.
01:53 His courses in Scotland and Ireland are worth another $94 million or so.
01:59 In New York, his estimated $300 million in mortgage-free real estate includes condos
02:05 in Trump Park Avenue, Trump Park East, and Trump World Tower.
02:09 Then, of course, there's his penthouse atop Trump Tower, worth an estimated $52 million,
02:16 even though it's one-third the size Trump previously claimed.
02:20 Elsewhere, Trump owns about $200 million worth of mortgage-free properties in Las Vegas,
02:26 Chicago, California, St. Martin, and Virginia.
02:31 Any combination of these assets could be put up as collateral to cover, or at least lessen,
02:36 the amount of his cash pile he has to fork over to pay his bills.
02:41 Of course, borrowing won't be quite as easy as it used to be for Trump.
02:45 The New York judgment barred him from borrowing from any financial institution "chartered
02:51 by or registered with" the state.
02:54 But a friendly fellow billionaire, a bank that doesn't do business in New York, or
02:58 even a foreign entity could all do the trick, especially if they're hoping to curry favor
03:03 with the former—and potentially future—president.
03:08 If he doesn't want to tack debt onto those assets, Trump could try to sell any of them.
03:13 Or he could borrow more against some of his assets that already have debt.
03:18 Meanwhile, he also has a stake in Trump Media and Technology Group, which operates Truth
03:23 Social.
03:25 That asset is currently tied up in a SPAC merger deal, but if that goes public, Trump
03:29 could have even more options.
03:32 No matter what path he takes, Trump's mounting legal judgments will shave a chunk off of
03:37 his fortune.
03:38 But that doesn't mean he'll be forced to sell—or give up—anything he doesn't
03:42 decide to.
03:45 For full coverage, check out Kyle Mullin's piece on Forbes.com.
03:50 This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.
03:53 Thanks for tuning in.
03:54 [music]