Trump, who performed strongly in the campaign, has a fragile destiny - a steady stream of legal actions. Not to mention whether the four criminal prosecutions he faces will put the candidate in jail, the huge legal expenses and possible subsequent fines for losing the case may first drag down Trump's campaign.
On Friday, Trump was ordered by a jury to pay $83.3 million in damages to E.Jean Carroll, the accuser in the sexual assault case, because Trump damaged the woman's reputation by denying the sexual assault in 2019. In addition, a New York civil fraud verdict is expected to be announced this week, and the court may require Trump to return the $370 million in "illegal profits" he made by lying to banks about his wealth.
It is difficult for the outside world to judge Trump’s current personal wealth figures. In September 2023, Forbes estimated Trump's net worth at $2.6 billion, while the Bloomberg Millionaire Index put Trump's net worth at $3.1 billion in November of the same year.
But it’s worth noting that this includes a large number of real estate properties, such as Trump’s golf clubs and resorts. Coupled with Trump's troublesome "TruthSocial" investment, which has been facing a sharp decline in stock prices in recent years, the cash flow in the hands of "Knowing King" has become a topic that is difficult to estimate.
Legal professionals also added that although Trump is ahead of his opponents in the party in terms of campaign funds and can use them to pay some legal fees, campaign funds cannot be used for personal expenses, such as legal compensation after losing a lawsuit.
Trump's lawyer Alina Habba said that these financial penalties are obviously intentional and are a follow-up strategy to clearly target Trump's selective prosecution.
$450 million
The cumulative compensation amount in the Carroll case and the New York civil fraud case will reach 450 million US dollars, which is a very dangerous number for Trump.
He said in April 2023 that he had a large amount of cash on hand, far exceeding US$400 million. The compensation awarded by the US court seems to be very "appropriate" at just over US$400 million, like a perfect cash flow test.
It is worth mentioning that Carroll received eight times as much compensation as she requested, and the jury found it necessary to bleed Trump's wallet so that Trump would never forget this lesson.
But so far, no one is sure whether Trump can come up with this amount of money. Forbes previously stated that Trump has approximately US$426 million in cash and liquid assets, including US$162 million he obtained from cashing out a Washington hotel and refinancing a real estate project in San Francisco.
According to another document, from 2022 to April 2023, Trump's golf courses and resorts generated US$145.8 million in revenue, Mar-a-Lago generated US$52.3 million, and Trump Tower in Las Vegas generated US$32 million.
These figures seem to represent a strong foundation for Trump's wealth, but on the other hand, Trump's own remarks that are keen to exaggerate the facts make things confusing.
Trump is accused in a New York civil fraud case of inflating his assets to banks to lower interest rates on hundreds of millions of dollars in loans needed for development projects. Trump himself said that it was not an exaggeration, because his valuation of his brand at US$10 billion was very reasonable. He became the president of the United States because of this brand, which is the most popular brand in the world.