this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2024
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Donald Trump has no idea how to post bond in the fraud trial—and he’s absolutely losing it.

In just shy of a week, Donald Trump’s $454 million judgment from his New York bank fraud trial will become collectible, either by way of liquid cash or financial assets—and it has officially sent Trump into meltdown mode.

The notoriously sleep-deprived GOP presidential nominee spent the better part of Monday night shouting into the void about the massive, half-billion-dollar judgment and his apparent inability to pay it off, bemoaning being required to follow the law before being allowed to appeal the case.

“I would be forced to mortgage or sell Great Assets, perhaps at Fire Sale prices, and if and when I win the Appeal, they would be gone. Does that make sense? WITCH HUNT. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!” Trump posted Tuesday morning.

“I shouldn’t have to put up any money, being forced by the Corrupt Judge and AG, until the end of the appeal. That’s the way system works!” he added, forgetting that he’s being held to the same standards as every private citizen.

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[–] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 143 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Hopefully, during repossession, they count his obnoxious branding as negative value and underprice what is being auctioned.

[–] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 142 points 8 months ago (6 children)

From my understanding, it essentially ends up with bidding for assets to get to the amount needed. Whatever the resulting high bid ends up, is the amount for that asset. So if something is valued at $500M but sells for only $200M, it only counts as $200M toward the judgment. Basically, estimated value means nothing, only what someone actually pays for it.

[–] snooggums@midwest.social 70 points 8 months ago (2 children)
[–] zurohki@aussie.zone 18 points 8 months ago (2 children)

So... What happens when it turns out he's underwater on all his properties, and they sell for less than he owes on them?

[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 13 points 8 months ago

Straight to jail? Please?

[–] chunkystyles@sopuli.xyz 7 points 8 months ago

He defaults on the loans. If he owns a building, has a $500 M loan on it, and it gets sold via this process, he gets no money, unless the sale goes over what he owes for the judgement. But the loan is still in place and he still owes the $500 M.

[–] MadMadBunny@lemmy.ca 5 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Not necessarily, but more of what someone is willing to pay at that specific moment. A lot can factor in. This being highly publicized, and with the notoriety of Trump and its assets, it can go in any unexpected direction.

[–] DarkDarkHouse@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 8 months ago

That’s… market value

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 56 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (7 children)

So if something is valued at $500M but sells for only $200M, it only counts as $200M toward the judgment.

Kind of less, he's paying taxes on the sale too, because he's still selling it even tho he doesnt get to keep the money.

And when selling half a billion dollars of real estate, you're going to pay a lot of taxes even in America.

So the 200 million goes to the judgement, but he's paying 20-40% percent in state/federal/local taxes. And it's all gonna happen in the same calendar year while a shit ton of accountants are watching his every move.

He's going to end up having to sell a lot more than the judgement to pay his tax bill a year from now.

And that's not even getting into his loans.

  1. Value a building at 100 million when it's worth 50

  2. Borrow 70 million on property.

  3. Sells for 40 and the bank needs 30 still.

There's no way out, even if the bank forgives the remaining 30, that still counts as taxable income for trump, compounding the first issue. And in that scenario, $0 is going to judgement and trump still loses the property and they move on to seizing the next on the list. He gets zero gain from the sale, but it's still drives up taxable income for him personally

trump could conceivably have a billion dollar gross income in 2024, and be completely broke with hundreds of millions due in tax.

Which is just insane.

[–] ripcord@lemmy.world 27 points 8 months ago

There's no way out

I'll believe it when I see it.

[–] ZoopZeZoop@lemmy.world 12 points 8 months ago

And yet, it is just. He has been screwing people over for decades to amass what he has, and it's time he paid for his criminal (tax/loan/whatever fraud).

[–] braveone@lemmy.ml 9 points 8 months ago (2 children)

That’s not quite right.

If you buy something for 300m, with 200m in loans, and sell it for 250m, you pay the loan back first, and have 50m in losses. Your taxes go down.

He only pays tax on gains.

Remember the whole case is him inflating property value to get loans. Between the fire sale, and the bad loans, it’s very likely he has little to no equity. He could sell all he has and not have any money to pay the $500m (plus interest.) Which also means little to no tax burden.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

Right...

If he sells for less then he has a loan on, he still owes the money, and without the property as collateral, the lender is going to collect.

If they forgive the debt, that counts as earnings and is taxed.

So it would either force more sales to pay remaining loans, or it's forgiven and taxable income goes up

[–] Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

But if he bought it for cheap, and got a loan on the property after the fact, or realistically, he held them for long enough then leveraged their new worth for other things, and hasn't paid any gains on the properties

[–] braveone@lemmy.ml 6 points 8 months ago

He was on trial for taking loans on fake gains.

[–] Pringles@lemm.ee 6 points 8 months ago

My schadenfreude is ramping up. I don't see him wiggling out.

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Its possible at a firesale value it could end up being a capital loss. There wouldn't be any taxes then.

But you'd need a legit appraisal to even know if it's a loss, his appraisals are worthless

[–] kablammy@sh.itjust.works 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You don't need any appraisal. You only need to know the purchase price and the selling price. The difference between them is the gain or loss.

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

Oh, you're right. Whoops.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world -2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

By that logic no one has ever paid taxes selling a used car...

[–] Anamnesis@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

They haven't. The buyer only pay sales tax, and the seller pays no tax at all. Except maybe crazy situations where it's a collectible antique that's worth way more now than when you bought it.

[–] ganksy@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

There is absolutely no way in the universe that little weasel didn't ask Elon for money over breakfast. No conceivable way.

[–] Zippy@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Well pay taxes if you sell at a profit. Hard to say if the value of his assets increased.

[–] 18_24_61_b_17_17_4@lemmy.world 30 points 8 months ago (3 children)

On the other side, what if some shady entity comes in and bids $500 million for something valued at $1 million so that Trump doesn't have to sell all his shit, but then the shady entity will have Trump in their pocket as well?

[–] Mycatiskai@lemmy.ca 41 points 8 months ago

So this other side you speak of is different from how it currently is? Trump sold many properties to Russian nationals at inflated prices. That was why he's already in their pockets. Nothing will change, he's already in so many people's pockets.

[–] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 14 points 8 months ago

If that were the case, Trump would be able find someone he could use the asset as collateral for bond instead. Just like Chubb's deal for the other judgment.

[–] DMBFFF@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

"Ten million for 72 hours with Melania, Ivanka, Tiffany, and Katie Britt: my associates will make videos—in case they're needed."

[–] pennomi@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

Honestly in a world of AI video generators, there’s no better time to be blackmailed by video.

[–] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 14 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yup, and if the conservatives haven't voluntarily bailed him out yet they're probably not going to be charitable in valuing his broke ass brand.

[–] phdepressed@sh.itjust.works 19 points 8 months ago

None of the rich ones want to pony up that much for nothing and the poor ones have already spent what they had on his other legal costs and "merch".

[–] Professorozone@lemmy.world 10 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I'm pretty sure you're wrong. Trump says Mar-a-lago is worth billions so it's worth billions, right? I mean that's how it's worked for him up until now.

[–] Thorry84@feddit.nl 15 points 8 months ago

Except when he needs it to be worthless, then it becomes instantly worthless. He has magic Schrodinger buildings which are both the most valuable in the world and worthless at the same time. Or as we in the real world like to call it: fraud

[–] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago

Trump being forced to sell off his properties for what people will pay for them in order to pay off the fine for fraudulently overvaluing those same properties is just so fucking delicious.

Actually, I’m hoping they come across more of the classified files I’m sure he stole.

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago

"Pair of ugly sneaker shoes? $10"