00:00 Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Thursday, February 29.
00:05 Today on Forbes, here's who could loan Trump $540 million.
00:12 As we told you earlier this week, Donald Trump now owes roughly $454 million to New York
00:19 State and counting, with more than $110,000 in interest accruing per day, after a judge
00:26 found the former president's companies guilty of repeated fraud.
00:30 Trump also owes some $88 million to the writer E. Jean Carroll for sexual abuse and defamation
00:36 verdicts against him.
00:38 Yesterday, an appellate judge granted Trump some interim relief, allowing him to seek
00:43 loans from banks chartered or registered in New York.
00:47 The judge, however, did not let Trump off the hook for the $454 million in fines and
00:53 interest.
00:54 The legal back and forth, if anything, emphasized his cash crunch.
00:58 His lawyers argued that it would be "impossible" for Trump to post a bond for the full amount
01:04 and warned that, without relief, "properties would likely need to be sold to raise capital
01:09 under exigent circumstances."
01:11 Yes, Trump is a billionaire in terms of net worth, but he only has around $400 million
01:17 in cash and other liquid assets, based on Forbes' most recent estimate.
01:22 That won't be enough to cover his bond bill, and certainly not enough to cover what he
01:26 owes both the state and Carroll.
01:28 Plus, he likely won't want to give up all of his cash at once.
01:33 And even with theoretical access to lenders in New York, for Trump, raising money from
01:37 others won't be as easy as it once was.
01:40 As one billionaire tells Forbes, the former president, who has a history of stiffing partners
01:45 and declaring bankruptcy, is hardly an ideal borrower.
01:48 The billionaire, who asked to remain anonymous, says, "Trump sues everyone, and what if he
01:54 puts the asset into bankruptcy?
01:56 Most will say, 'I am not touching this guy.'"
02:00 Trump does have plenty of assets to put up as collateral, including the 27 mortgage-free
02:05 properties we told you about earlier in the week, that are collectively worth over $1.1
02:09 billion.
02:10 Yet, as far as getting loans, New York-registered banks he's worked with over the years, like
02:16 UBS and the Bryn Mawr Trust Company, may still be skittish.
02:21 Deutsche Bank, which was named in the attorney general's lawsuit, has already decided to
02:25 sever ties with Trump long before the judge's decision was announced.
02:30 Bert Ely, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute's Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives,
02:36 says, "Given the growing reputational risk of doing business with Trump, I suspect he
02:41 increasingly has to deal with relatively unconventional lenders, such as wealthy individuals, closely
02:46 held financial firms, and foreign entities not subject to U.S. banking laws or regulation."
02:53 Evan Gottlob, a partner of the law firm Saul Ewing, is placing his bet on the Middle East
02:58 and China.
02:59 He says, "There are plenty of banks in the UAE, the New Wall Street, as well as in countries
03:05 like Saudi Arabia.
03:07 He also has close ties to China."
03:10 Trump has plenty of connections abroad.
03:12 He has a newly minted partnership with a Saudi real estate firm and the government of Oman,
03:16 his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, meanwhile, has been cozying up to Saudi Arabia's crown
03:22 prince Mohammed bin Salman.
03:24 Kushner's nearly two-year-old private equity firm reportedly received a $2 billion investment
03:30 from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund.
03:32 Of course, taking this path would raise fresh questions about his business partners and
03:37 conflicts of interest right in the middle of an election.
03:40 But that likely won't deter Trump.
03:43 There are still some options in the U.S.
03:45 Axos Bank is one obvious contender.
03:48 The San Diego-based, largely online lender, which has $22 billion in assets, loaned Trump
03:54 $225 million in 2022 to refinance two real estate holdings, and its CEO, Gregory Garibrants,
04:02 donated to Trump's 2020 campaign.
04:05 Axos did not respond to Forbes' requests for comment on whether it would continue lending
04:09 to Trump.
04:11 Another domestic option might be Ladder Capital, a $5.5 billion real estate investment trust
04:16 with three loans out to Trump right now on 40 Wall Street, Trump International Hotel
04:21 and Tower, and Trump Plaza, per the presidential candidate's latest financial disclosure.
04:27 But Ladder Capital, which did not respond to a request for comment, did not finance
04:31 either of Trump's most recent deals at Trump Tower and Trump National Doral.
04:36 It's unclear whether the firm, which has received plenty of scrutiny from its connections to
04:40 Trump, would want to deepen its relationship with the former president.
04:45 If Trump can't find banks willing to move quickly enough, he can try to hit up wealthy
04:49 investors and billionaire Republican megadonors who not only have cash, but very much like
04:54 the foreign entities we mentioned earlier, have an incentive to endear themselves to
04:58 a potential future president.
05:01 A few of these possibilities include Phil Ruffin, Andrew Beal, and Kenny Trout.
05:07 For full coverage, check out John Hyatt and Kyle Mullins' piece on Forbes.com.
05:13 This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.
05:15 Thanks for tuning in.
05:16 [music]
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