Donald Trump claimed Friday that he has about $500 million in cash, but said he would rather run for president than spend it on a $454 million civil fraud judgment against him in New York. He said he wanted to use the .
The former president is appealing the stunning verdict, while also asking the court to waive his requirement to provide financial guarantees of financial goodwill. He has not provided any documentation regarding the cash request, and Trump's lawyers have suggested it would be impractical to tie up so much cash in bonds while continuing to operate his business and meet other obligations. ing.
A judge found in February that Trump repeatedly lied about his assets in financial statements he submitted to banks and other companies to secure loans and make deals. The judge ordered him to forfeit the profits he made from certain real estate deals and the money he saved by getting lower interest rates on his loans. Trump denies trying to deceive anyone.
As of Thursday, Trump's lawyers said in a court filing that it was difficult to obtain bond to cover the judgment because the underwriter insisted on cash, stocks and other liquid assets as collateral, rather than real estate. he said repeatedly. More than 30 bonding companies reportedly rejected their offer.
Trump's lawyers asked the state's intermediate appellate court to reverse an earlier ruling that required a full bond to be posted to halt the execution. New York Attorney General Letitia James resisted President Trump's request, asking the appeals court to require the full amount to be paid so the state could easily access the funds if the ruling is upheld.
Trump would likely have to pay 120% of his sentence, or more than $557 million, to get bail, lawyers said. The Court of Appeals has not yet issued a decision.
In a Friday post on his Truth Social platform, Trump suggested he had enough cash to at least cover the entire judgment, but that he didn't think it needed to be spent that way.
“Through hard work, talent, and luck, I now have nearly $500 million in cash,” he wrote in all caps, adding that he plans to spend “significant amounts” on his presidential campaign.
Trump has never indicated he would donate to his 2024 campaign, and he was soliciting contributions from outside donors even before leaving the White House. When he ran for office in 2016, he repeatedly claimed that Trump was self-funding his campaign, even though Trump relied on donations from him.
I don’t need anyone’s money,” he said in his 2015 announcement speech. “I'm using my own money. I'm not using lobbyists or donors. I don't care. I'm really rich.”
In the end, Mr. Trump ended up spending about $66 million of his own cash in loans and donations to the campaign, far less than the $100 million he frequently promised.
Whether Trump actually has nearly $500 million in cash as he claims could be the subject of future legal battles over his assets. Mr. James, a Democrat, could begin efforts to recover the legal judgment he won against Mr. Trump as early as Monday, unless an appeals court intervenes.
Mr. James has said he is prepared to seek the seizure of some of Mr. Trump's assets, but it is unclear how quickly that will unfold. Her office declined to comment on the plan.
Last April, President Trump testified in a deposition in a civil fraud case that he had “well over $400 million in cash,'' but that amount was “significantly more than 400 million dollars in cash'' and that he had sold the management rights to a golf course in New York City to casino operator Bally's for $60 million. That was before I sold it. . Prior to that, President Trump reported in his financial report on June 30, 2021 that he had $293.8 million in cash and cash equivalents and a total net worth of $4.5 billion.
Mr. Trump's considerable personal wealth may have increased even more on Friday after shareholders of a publicly traded shell company approved a merger agreement with his media business, which runs the social networking site Truth Social. expensive. Based on Thursday's stock price, Mr. Trump's shares in the company could be worth more than $3 billion, but rules could prohibit him from selling any newly issued shares for at least six months.
