00:00 Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Tuesday, February 27.
00:05 Today on Forbes, here's why Trump won't have to sell any buildings to come up with $540
00:11 million.
00:12 New York Attorney General Letitia James vowed last week to seize Donald Trump's assets
00:19 if he could not pay the roughly $454 million he now owes the state.
00:24 Trump's lawyers appealed the civil fraud judgment yesterday.
00:28 But make no mistake, Trump's balance sheet is strong enough for him to pay his penalties
00:33 without selling a thing.
00:36 Trump, who Forbes most recently estimated to be worth $2.6 billion, owes New York State
00:43 over $350 million, plus around $100 million in interest, which is climbing every day.
00:49 And he owes some $88 million to the writer E. Jean Carroll for sexual abuse and defamation
00:55 verdicts against him.
00:57 Trump has around $400 million of liquid assets on hand, so he could simply write a check
01:02 to pay much of what he owes right now.
01:05 To cover the rest, though, Trump, who once called himself the so-called "king of debt,"
01:11 could go another route.
01:12 He could theoretically borrow money against one or more of the 27 mortgage-free properties
01:17 in his portfolio, which are collectively worth more than $1.1 billion.
01:24 The most valuable asset Trump could try to wring cash from is likely Mar-a-Lago, his
01:29 glitzy Palm Beach, Florida club, which Forbes recently estimated is worth just shy of $300
01:34 million.
01:35 But he has a long list of other assets he could also borrow against.
01:40 His 10 U.S. golf courses are collectively worth over $250 million, and he just recently
01:46 cleared away the remaining debt on courses in New Jersey and Virginia, leaving the entire
01:50 portfolio mortgage-free.
01:53 His courses in Scotland and Ireland are worth another $94 million or so.
01:59 In New York, his estimated $300 million in mortgage-free real estate includes condos
02:05 in Trump Park Avenue, Trump Park East, and Trump World Tower.
02:09 Then, of course, there's his penthouse atop Trump Tower, worth an estimated $52 million,
02:16 even though it's one-third the size Trump previously claimed.
02:20 Elsewhere, Trump owns about $200 million worth of mortgage-free properties in Las Vegas,
02:26 Chicago, California, St. Martin, and Virginia.
02:31 Any combination of these assets could be put up as collateral to cover, or at least lessen,
02:36 the amount of his cash pile he has to fork over to pay his bills.
02:41 Of course, borrowing won't be quite as easy as it used to be for Trump.
02:45 The New York judgment barred him from borrowing from any financial institution "chartered
02:51 by or registered with" the state.
02:54 But a friendly fellow billionaire, a bank that doesn't do business in New York, or
02:58 even a foreign entity could all do the trick, especially if they're hoping to curry favor
03:03 with the former—and potentially future—president.
03:08 If he doesn't want to tack debt onto those assets, Trump could try to sell any of them.
03:13 Or he could borrow more against some of his assets that already have debt.
03:18 Meanwhile, he also has a stake in Trump Media and Technology Group, which operates Truth
03:23 Social.
03:25 That asset is currently tied up in a SPAC merger deal, but if that goes public, Trump
03:29 could have even more options.
03:32 No matter what path he takes, Trump's mounting legal judgments will shave a chunk off of
03:37 his fortune.
03:38 But that doesn't mean he'll be forced to sell—or give up—anything he doesn't
03:42 decide to.
03:45 For full coverage, check out Kyle Mullin's piece on Forbes.com.
03:50 This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.
03:53 Thanks for tuning in.
03:54 [music]
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