Trump’s “I’m rich!” boasts are actually making him less rich when it comes to big-money verdicts.
Chris Seward/AP, left. LM Otero/AP, right.
Under last month’s fraud trial judgment, Trump’s debt to NY rises by $111,984 in interest per day.That means every 9 days, he owes the state another $1M.On Saturday, his total fraud trial judgment, originally $454M, rose to $455M.
Sure, interest costs are high all over. But for Donald Trump, they’re through the roof.
Under the final fraud trial judgment, the GOP frontrunner’s debt to New York state rises daily by $111,984 in interest.
That means every 9 days, Trump owes the state another $1 million in interest.
In last week’s final judgment, state Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron set Trump’s total debt to the state of New York at $454 million, his total cash penalty for the decade’s worth of wildly inflated net-worth statements he sent to banks.
But on Saturday — nine days after Engoron signed it on February 22 — that number ticked up by one million, hitting $455 million.
Trump’s interest will continue to accrue — hiking his total penalty by another $1 million every nine days — as his lawyers pursue the often lengthy process of appealing the judgment.
Nine days from Saturday will be March 11, which is also Trump’s next deadline for filing arguments in that effort. He is expected to ask a panel of five Manhattan appellate judges to stay, meaning pause, the enforcement of the judgment while he pursues a full appeal. A single appellate judge has preliminarily denied that request.
On that same day, the total Trump owes New York will tick up by another $1 million, to $456 million.
Trump’s total penalty will continue to accrue interest as lawyers for state Attorney General Letitia James file their response to Trump a week later.
By March 25 — Trump’s deadline for either paying up or posting an appeal bond — the total he owes will exceed $457 million.
It’s quite the long shot, but the appellate panel could grant Trump’s request to post an appeal bond for just $100 million rather than for the entire $457 million.
Either way, Trump’s $1 million-every-nine-days interest clock will continue ticking through the months it takes him to hear from those five midlevel appellate judges.
It will continue to tick if he doesn’t like what they have to say and appeals further, including to the US Supreme Court, as Trump’s lawyers have suggested he may.
By the time the Republican National Convention begins in mid-July, the amount he owes New York will reach $470 million, a total that will include $16 million in post-judgment interest.
Meanwhile, Trump’s co-defendants in the same massive AG civil case are seeing the interest on their own penalties rise under last week’s final judgment.
Donald Trump, Jr., and Eric Trump each owe the state $4 million; the interest on this penalty increases by $1,149 every day for each of them. Former Trump Organization CEO Allen Weisselberg owes $1 million; interest is adding $272 to his total every day.
Trump’s defense team has already decried the judgment as “exorbitant and punitive” in recent court filings. A lawyer for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday’s $1 million interest-hike milestone.
A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office declined to comment. James has praised the judgment as a “massive victory” for New York’s marketplace and for “every Americans who believes in the rule of law.