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Former US president Donald Trump appears to be in legal and financial trouble, after enduring a series of expensive legal setbacks.
The billionaire allegedly can't find an insurance company to underwrite his bond, in order to cover the New York attorney general’s civil fraud case against him. As per his attorneys, Trump has approached 30 underwriters to back the bond, to little success.
The amount required exceeds $464 million, says Gary Giulietti, an insurance broker who testified for Trump during the civil fraud trial.
According to New York Judge Arthur Engoron, Donald Trump has been ordered to pay $355 million in “ill-gotten gains”. The businessman and his adult sons are liable for fraud, conspiracy, and issuing false financial statements and false business records.
They have been accused of inflating the value of Trump’s assets to get better loan and insurance rates.
The recent financial losses and the inability to find an insurance company to back the bond has brought the net worth of Trump into question, which many are curious to know.
Donald Trump is currently 1216th on the Forbes' list of the world's richest people
According to Forbes Magazine’s assessment, Donald Trump’s net worth is in decline. Trump, who is the Republican candidate for the 2024 Presidential elections, is no longer part of the Forbes 400, given the reduction in the value of his assets. He is currently No. 1,216 on the magazine's list of the world's richest people.
He remains a billionaire as of February 2024, with assets valued at $2.6 billion. The decline in wealth is evident when his net worth is compared to earlier years. In 2022, Forbes claimed that he was worth $3 billion, while in 2016 it was $4.6 billion.
After the current ruling, which puts his combined penalties surpassing $500 million, he stands to lose at least 16 to 19 percent of his net worth.
Before his presidency, Donald Trump was a successful businessman, and most of his wealth stems from real estate, from buildings in New York City to hotels around the world.
Bloomberg cites his $500 million stake in 1290 Avenue of the Americas as one of his largest estates. Trump also has $600 million in liquid assets.
Post the pandemic, some of his real estate holdings have been losing value, due to weak demand due to the growth in remote work. According to Forbes, the value of his office towers have decreased by $170 million.
The latest civil case is not the only thing that has made a significant dent in Donal Trump’s net worth. The ruling came shortly after a court ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million in damages for defaming the writer E. Jean Carroll.
He had earlier been ordered to pay $5 million in damages to the writer, after he was found guilty for battery and defamation in a civil trial, that started from allegations that he r*ped her in the 1990s. Trump posted a $91.6 million bond in early March as part of his appeal.
As for the ongoing case, Trump will reportedly have to pay more than $550 million, including fees and interest, says Giulietti.
He said,
“Over the course of my career, during which I have been directly or indirectly involved in the issuance of thousands of bonds, I have never heard of nor seen an appeal bond of this size for a private company or individual. After substantial good-faith effort over the last several weeks, obtaining an appeal bond for the Judgment Amount of over $464 million is just not possible under these circumstances.”
With the rising onslaught of penalties and cases against Donald Trump, it remains to be seen how long his billionaire status remains unscathed.
