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He didn’t go to jail, and has not misplaced his grip on the race for the Republican presidential nomination, however a jury’s verdict in a civil defamation trial final week nonetheless hit Donald J. Trump the place it hurts: his pockets.
The jury’s determination to award $83.3 million to E. Jean Carroll got here at an inopportune second for the previous president, who would possibly quickly face one other giant penalty from a civil fraud case introduced by the New York lawyer common, Letitia James. Mr. Trump and his household enterprise are bracing for the choose in that case to impose a punishment within the coming weeks that might attain a whole lot of tens of millions of {dollars}.
Collectively, the judgments would possibly ship a punishing one-two punch to the previous president, a monetary risk not like any he has skilled in many years.
The payouts would hardly elevate the specter of chapter for a person who estimates his web value — the topic of a lot debate — within the billions. They usually pose no threat to his freedom, not like his 4 felony indictments. However they may erode a few of his monetary cushion and drive him to promote varied property, a New York Occasions evaluation of his monetary information and interviews with folks near him present.
Each penalties will even strike on the core of Mr. Trump’s id — and his ego — and take a look at his methodology of managing authorized crises. For years, he has portrayed himself as a self-made mogul who can bend the justice system in his favor. And because the instances towards him have mounted, he has sought to blur his various authorized woes into what he baselessly describes as a “witch hunt” directed by his political opponents.
“The enterprise that’s Trump isn’t going to be taken down by a bunch of felony instances,” mentioned Steven M. Cohen, a former federal prosecutor and prime official within the lawyer common’s workplace who now teaches company regulation at New York Legislation Faculty. “The enterprise that’s Trump goes to be picked aside by these civil instances, and in some unspecified time in the future there’s a threat of collapse.”
The decision for Ms. Carroll, a author whom Mr. Trump defamed, infuriated the previous president, who referred to as it “completely ridiculous!”
Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Mr. Trump, didn’t deal with the specifics of how Mr. Trump would fund both the Carroll judgment or the potential civil fraud trial penalty.
He mentioned that Mr. Trump had constructed a “tremendously profitable, unparalleled enterprise” earlier than he was elected.
“The unjust verdicts will likely be appealed, and all of the hoaxes will likely be defeated, as President Trump did nothing improper,” he mentioned.
In a social media submit on Sunday, Mr. Trump took goal on the lawyer common’s accusation that he had inflated his web value, writing: “I AM WORTH MUCH MORE THAN THE NUMBERS SHOWN ON MY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS.”
Hefty authorized prices will not be a brand new actuality for the infamously litigious Mr. Trump, however by no means earlier than has the tally been so excessive.
He has been utilizing a political motion committee, initially seeded with donations raised from his false claims of widespread fraud within the 2020 election, to pay the majority of his and a few witnesses’ authorized charges within the felony instances towards him. However whereas some marketing campaign finance specialists suppose he might use it to assist fund the Carroll judgment, it might solely cowl a fraction of the quantity the jury set.
That leaves Mr. Trump with the prospect of getting to dig into his personal pocket to pay Ms. Carroll and the State of New York.
Individuals near Mr. Trump, who requested anonymity to debate his monetary scenario, insist he has the cash to cowl the 2 main payouts. And in a deposition final yr for Ms. James’s case, Mr. Trump said that he had $400 million in money out there.
The Occasions — which reviewed a number of years of Mr. Trump’s monetary statements and courtroom paperwork that make clear his funds — was unable to independently confirm these assertions. Mr. Trump’s household enterprise is a privately held firm that’s not required to file detailed public studies with regulators.
And his most up-to-date monetary disclosure, which he’s required to submit as a presidential candidate, comprises ranges somewhat than particular figures.
Nonetheless, the publicly out there information and interviews with folks educated about his funds provide a snapshot that means that Mr. Trump has greater than sufficient money, or investments within the monetary markets that may be transformed into money, to cowl the $83.3 million he now owes Ms. Carroll.
The lawyer common’s potential penalty may very well be a special story.
Ms. James is in search of $370 million. The choose, Arthur F. Engoron, has appeared sympathetic to her case all through the monthslong trial.
If Mr. Trump instantly owes a whole lot of tens of millions of {dollars}, he may need to promote a lot of his funding portfolio or different property.
When Mr. Trump was coming into the White Home, Allen H. Weisselberg, his longtime chief monetary officer, ready a memo displaying that the Trump Group was operating low on money. It had $60 million, which included greater than $26 million tied up in a partnership he couldn’t contact.
Throughout a lot of his presidency, the annual monetary statements Mr. Trump’s firm submitted to his lenders confirmed that he had wherever from $75 million to $93 million in money and “money equivalents,” relying on the yr. (These statements had been launched as a part of Ms. James’s case).
Since then, Mr. Trump’s firm has bought some once-prized property: the working license at his golf membership within the Bronx and a lease he managed at his resort in Washington. His proceeds from the resort sale alone, after paying off a mortgage and different buyers, had been $131.4 million earlier than tax, in accordance with a doc filed in Ms. James’s case.
In Mr. Trump’s post-presidential life, his enterprise, the Trump Group, has additionally struck new offers with overseas companions, together with a Saudi-backed golf enterprise and a Saudi-based actual property firm, for a housing and golf advanced to be in-built Oman.
It’s unclear what his firm has carried out with that cash — whether or not it’s money in a checking account, was invested within the inventory market or was used to fund Mr. Trump’s varied companies, a lot of which have misplaced cash over time.
For now, whereas he appeals each instances, Mr. Trump needn’t instantly pay Ms. Carroll and the State of New York.
He might pay the courtroom system, which can maintain the cash whereas the enchantment is pending. That is what he did final yr when a jury ordered him to pay Ms. Carroll $5 million in a associated case.
Alternatively, Mr. Trump might attempt to safe an enchantment bond, which might save him from having to pay the complete quantity up entrance. This methodwould primarily guarantee Ms. Carroll and Ms. James that Mr. Trump has the cash to pay however prevents them from accumulating whereas his appeals are heard.
However securing such a bond would require Mr. Trump to discover a firm prepared to put in writing the bond at a time when he faces vital authorized jeopardy.
And if he does safe the bond, it in all probability is not going to be low-cost. The worth of the bond is more likely to be 110 p.c of the decision, so within the case involving Ms. Carroll, about $92 million, authorized specialists mentioned. Mr. Trump will even must pay the bonding firm a considerable premium and provide it a major quantity of collateral, extra even than what he owes. He will even owe curiosity to Ms. Carroll and the State of New York.
Authorized specialists mentioned that Mr. Trump may not have the ability to pledge his properties as collateral. As an alternative, the specialists mentioned, the bonding firm would possibly demand that he pledge liquid property, similar to certificates of deposit or Treasury bonds.
“That is no stroll within the park,” Stuart Levine, a enterprise lawyer in Baltimore who usually offers with varied forms of bonds for purchasers, mentioned after reviewing Mr. Trump’s newest monetary disclosure kind.
Mr. Trump’s web value has lengthy been a supply of pleasure for the previous president, although it will also be a double-edged sword.
On the ultimate day of the current trial, Ms. Carroll’s attorneys tried to persuade the jury that Mr. Trump ought to face a steep punitive positive — in any case, solely a big quantity would matter to such a rich man.
“He has mentioned that his model alone is value $10 billion,” Ms. Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, mentioned in her closing arguments — utilizing Mr. Trump’s personal phrases, which he delivered throughout a deposition within the lawyer common’s case, towards him.
“He mentioned it’s the most popular model on the planet,” Ms. Kaplan continued. She rattled off the estimated worth of his Florida property, Mar-a-Lago, and his golf resort outdoors Miami.
Mr. Trump’s lawyer Michael Madaio objected, saying, “These will not be private property she’s referring to,” implying that they belonged to Mr. Trump’s firm.
He was overruled.
Jonah E. Bromwich and William Ok. Rashbaum contributed reporting.
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