To file for personal bankruptcy, the former president would have to prove that the amount of damages exceeded his total net worth.
Trump on Monday repeated the claim that his financial reports were “understated, not exaggerated.”
However, if the Trump Organization declares bankruptcy, Trump would do so continue to be liable to be paid according to the judge's verdict.
Trump was ordered to pay on Friday $354.8 million for conspiring to alter his net worth to obtain tax and insurance benefits.
To this amount will be added preliminary interest at the rate of 9 percent annually from the time he profited from his alleged fraud, in accordance with New York law.
Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that about half of that interest, tied to loan savings, could be charged starting in 2019, when the New York attorney general's investigation began. The remainder, related to two Trump property sales, is calculated from May 2022 and June 2023.
Overall, Trump was guilty
another $98.6 million on the day Engoron issued his decision, in interest, bringing the total to $453.5 million.
But that number will only continue to rise until Trump pays the fine. Every day the interest increases the total amount Trump owes more than $87,000.
Trump's net worth is notoriously obscure, but estimates such as Forbes and Bloomberg place his fortune at between $2.6 billion and $3.1 billion.
How much cash Trump has on hand is another question. The former president himself told lawyers at the New York attorney general's office that he had “well over $400 million in cash.”
“We have a lot of cash,” Trump said in a statement last year, claiming that number is “increasing significantly every month.”
Estimates suggest that Trump's liquid assets, including cash and personal assets, amount to around $600 million.
The Hill's Ella Lee and Brett Samuels have more here.
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