Donald Trump may have to liquidate parts of his empire to pay E. Jean Carroll
Late last month, former US President Donald Trump was slammed with a verdict that could cost him tens of millions of dollars — $83.3 million (£66,113,544), to be exact. But how will the Republican, who isn't exactly loaded with cash, be able to pay off such a debt?
He might have to sell off large chunks of his real estate empire, a shocking new report looking into the businessman's finances has revealed. That prognosis comes as he ironically faces a verdict in a civil fraud trial based out of Manhattan, New York City, related to schemes to inflate his net worth to increase the quality of loans and deals he could get.
Trump was ordered to pay writer and columnist E. Jean Carroll $65 million (£51,589,200) in punitive damages and $18.3 million (£14,524,344) in compensatory damages after he was convicted of defaming her, which followed other claims against him that he had raped her back in 1996 in a department store in Manhattan.
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Trump has vowed to appeal the verdict, but as of now, he still owes E. Jean Carroll a lot of money (Getty Images)In that case, the jury awarded Carroll $5 million (£3,968,400). But while Trump has been working to appeal the verdicts, he still currently owes Carroll nearly $90 million total, and he's going to have to foot that cost somehow.
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The Republican, who is currently the forerunner for his party ahead of the 2024 presidential election, claims to be billions richer than he actually is, according to many reports, including a comprehensive one by Forbes published in October 2023. That report suggests that he's worth about $2.6 billion (£2,063,568,000) — which means the $83.3 million penalty should be a painful but still very much affordable amount for the former president.
But still, Trump doesn't exactly have hundreds of millions in cash on hand, as much of his worth is in his real estate holdings and his other fiscal ventures. A set of legal and financial experts spoke to The Washington Post and told the publication that Trump has a few options for coming up with the money to pay Carroll.
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Carroll alleged that Trump defamed her after he also allegedly raped her in 1996 (Getty Images)One of them is for him to sell off parts of his real estate holdings — to liquidate his assets in order to pay off Carroll with cash, which many believe seems to be the most effective way Trump could foot the massive bill.
He could also try to acquire a bond for the payment, which would then need to be paid back with interest, meaning it would cost Trump much more than $83.3 million. So, in all scenarios, cash seems to be the better option for the former president and also the most affordable, several experts agreed.
With several holdings across the world, it's difficult to determine exactly how much Trump has to sell or how much the holdings are all worth, especially since the Trump Organization, the company owned by him and operated in part by his sons, Donald Jr and Eric, who were also indicted in the civil fraud trial targeting the organisation, is a private company, meaning that the earnings for it are not public record — just Trump's liquid assets, and that's only because he's running for the presidency again.
In 2021, the Post reported that the Trump Organization reported that Trump had about $294 million (£233,341,920) in liquid assets, or cash, but New York Attorney General Letitia James argued against that, stating that about 32% of that was held in investments and therefore not available to him — that's $93 million (£73,812,240) or so.
In any case, Trump is scrambling to find the money to pay Carroll, and he might be running out of options — leaving selling off some properties or leases as his only choice.
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