Donald Trump is facing a pair of major legal verdicts in New York that risk wiping out most — if not all — of the cash the billionaire says he has on hand, a potential blow to the presidential candidate whose persona is tied up with financial success and wealth.
Trump on Friday was ordered by a jury to pay $83.3 million to writer E. Jean Carroll for defaming her in 2019 when he denied her sexual-assault allegation. On top of that, a verdict is expected this week in New York’s civil fraud trial, which seeks the return of $370 million in “illegal profits” Trump allegedly made by lying to banks about his wealth to get better terms on loans.
In a deposition last year, Trump described his stockpile of cash as being “substantially in excess” of $400 million. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index placed his liquid assets at about $600 million, though Trump’s exact financial status remains famously opaque.
That’s adorable. He’ll probably claim it’s a legitimate campaign expense because these cases are all “clearly political attacks”. So there will be another round of cases keeping this all locked up in courts for another 2-3 years.