Can Trump Escape with a Massive Amount of Money?
Donald Trump is facing financial tensions after Judge Arthur Engoron in New York ordered him to pay a fine of $354.9 million. The accusation states that Trump inflated the value of his assets to deceive lenders and insurance companies. Trump has until March 25th to pay the fine of $454 million, including interest, or risk having his assets seized by the government.
The former president has not accepted the court’s ruling and has filed an appeal. However, according to regulations, Trump still has to pay the fine if he wants to appeal, and if the appeal is successful, the paid amount will be refunded to him.
While awaiting the court’s decision on the stay of execution, Trump’s team is also trying to find insurance companies to guarantee the payment of the fine. However, the large sum of money has caused more than 30 insurance companies to refuse to provide guarantees, despite Trump offering his assets as collateral.
The need to find a huge amount of money in a short period of time has pushed Trump into a serious cash crisis, leading many to compare this situation to his previous business bankruptcies.
In the latest effort to salvage the situation, Trump’s campaign called for donations on March 20th, so that the former president could pay his “legal bill.” The campaign sent messages to over 1 million supporters, calling on each person to contribute $20.24 – $3,300 and describing the lawsuit as an effort to “seize assets.”
It is unclear whether Trump can use the donated money to pay the fine as U.S. law prohibits the use of campaign funds for personal expenses.
On March 23rd, Trump unexpectedly revealed that he has “nearly $500 million in cash,” dispelling doubts about his cash flow. In a social media post written entirely in capital letters, Trump said, “Thanks to hard work, talent, and luck, I now have nearly $500 million in cash, a significant amount that I plan to use in the presidential campaign.”
There is no evidence to substantiate Trump’s statement, but it seems that he may soon receive good news as the shareholders of Digital World Acquisition Corp have voted in favor of merging with Trump Media – the former president’s company. They stated that the merger could be completed next week. This deal values Trump’s controlling stake in the Truth Social app at approximately $3.3 billion. This sudden amount of money could be pivotal as Trump struggles with financial issues due to a series of lawsuits.
However, experts believe that there are many legal, financial, and practical factors that make this deal unable to solve Trump’s cash flow problem.
While racing to return to the White House, Trump faces unprecedented legal risks, including 88 criminal charges (14 charges of election fraud, 40 charges of withholding classified information, 34 charges related to hush money payments), along with civil lawsuits.
Business Today