If Judgments Force Sale Of Trump Properties, How Much Would He Get?
Judge Arthur Engoron
After Judge Arthur Engoron handed down a judgment against former President Donald Trump in excess of $350 million on Friday, the ex-president may end up having to liquidate some of his assets to satisfy the court's obligations.
Trump attorney Alina Habba has said that her client plans to appeal the ruling, though he'll still have to put the money in a court-managed account while the appeals process plays out, in addition to the state-mandated nine percent interest for appeals of civil judgments. Daily Beast reporter Jose Pagliery tweeted his back-of-the-napkin math estimating that in order to appeal Engoron's judgment, Trump would have to set aside roughly $450 million when accounting for interest.
But Engoron's penalty is merely the second judgment Trump has been hit with in 2024. Earlier this month, a jury ordered the former president to pay writer E. Jean Carroll $88.3 million in compensatory and punitive damages for defamation. That's on top of a separate $5 million judgment Trump was ordered to pay Carroll in 2023. With all of these court-ordered penalties lumped together, that means Trump will be on the hook for nearly $450 million. And even if his bid for the presidency is successful this November, he'll still be required to pay those penalties. He's also prevented from running any New York-based business for three years.
In order for Trump to pay those judgments, he may have to end up selling some of his flagship properties in his real estate portfolio. Exactly how much his properties are worth is still a matter of debate, as Judge Engoron found Trump liable for fraudulently inflating the values of his assets, giving New York Attorney General Letitia James nearly all she was asking for in disgorgement penalties. But both the attorney general's office and various reports have found rough estimates for some of his most valuable assets.
The crown jewels of the Trump Organization are his Manhattan skyscrapers: Trump Tower (valued at roughly $117 million according to Forbes), Trump Park Avenue (valued at $135.8 million in 2020) and 40 Wall Street (pegged at $220 million by a professional appraiser in 2012). While it's unlikely he would move to sell these buildings out of his nearly two dozen residential, commercial and resort properties, they could feasibly cover the judgments depending on how appraisers would view them in 2024.
The Independent delved into other appraisals for some of Trump's other pricey properties outside of New York City, including his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, which is valued at roughly $20 million. The New York Attorney General's office cited a figure of $56 million for his Seven Springs property in Westchester County, New York (just north of the city). In 2022, Trump sold the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC for roughly $375 million, which was enough to satisfy a $170 million loan from Deutsche Bank and pocket a hefty profit afterward.
Trump's legal woes in New York are far from over, however, with his first of four criminal trials scheduled for March 25 in Manhattan District Court. He faces 34 felony counts of allegedly falsifying business records related to a $130,000 payment to adult film star Stephanie Clifford in 2016.
Reprinted with permission from Alternet.
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