Donald Trump may have to sell off assets if his fines in the New York fraud trial are over $200 million.
Speaking to MSNBC on Sunday, New York Times reporter Susanne Craig explained that they were working to sift through what kind of "cash on hand" Trump has to give in fines for crimes.
E. Jean Carroll, who won a separate "sexual abuse" defamation case against Trump, was awarded $83.3 million on Friday. Craig said that Trump has that kind of money on hand.
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"I think with the E. Jean Carroll — [the] $83.3 million — he has got enough, it appears enough, cash and cash equivalence, things that he can sell to either post that money," explained Craig. "He's already put $5 million up for the previous verdict, and it looks like he can either do that or he may see it go to bond, which is a complicated area."
In the fraud case, however, Trump may not have the money and be forced to start selling off assets. As one of Trump's biographers, David Cay Johnston, explained on Friday, financiers are all "smoke and mirrors."
"It's not gonna come in that $5 million or $80 million; it's gonna come in that 200 and 300 [million] dollar," Craig said, explaining it could "bleed a bit further" from even those estimations. "Between the two of them, this is massive money, and we were even looking this weekend at just exactly how much Donald Trump has on hand. Can he meet the E. Jean Carroll fine now? What about this larger one?"
If the fraud trial fine comes in under $300 million, "he is going to be looking at, potentially, asset sales or something if he wants to either paid immediately or appeal. That is a huge number, and he doesn't appear to have enough cash on hand to handle both if that civil fight comes in, where we think it will be in the three to four, five million range."
Trump has a list of several properties that could end up on the chopping block, like his Bedminster club, his 10,000-square-foot condo in New York City, Trump National Golf Club in Los Angeles, his club in Virginia, Trump Turnberry, Seven Springs and other properties. If he's unwilling to sell off properties, he might have to begin dipping into the inheritance for his children.
When Rudy Giuliani filed for bankruptcy, there was the fear that Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman wouldn't get their settlement from his defamation. But as Eric Snyder, the chairman of the bankruptcy practice at Wilk Auslander L.L.P, told Insider in December, because defamation is an "intentional tort" — meaning Giuliani broke civil laws on purpose — he can't jettison the $148 million judgment through the bankruptcy process.
A key part of the New York fraud trial has been in proving Trump's "intent" to defraud. So, it's unclear whether he would have cover in that case or not. Like Giuliani, filing for bankruptcy would give Trump some time to reorganize his finances and get rid of other debt, and he would only be forced to pay for some of it during an appeal process, the report explained.
Trump's companies filed for bankruptcy six times, one of the companies filed twice.
See the discussion in the video below or at the link here.
Trump can pay E. Jean Carroll — but might have to sell assets to fund fraud fine: reporter youtu.be
