Trump Q&A: How much does he owe and how fast is the $355M tab growing?

Back-to-back decisions in two civil cases involving former President Trump dealt a staggering blow to the real estate mogul’s fortune. 

In Trump’s civil fraud case, a New York judge ordered the former president to pay a nearly $355 million penalty, plus interest, after finding he falsely altered his net worth on key financial statements to receive tax and insurance benefits.   

Trump also owes writer E. Jean Carroll more than $83 million after a New York City jury last month found he defamed her in 2019, when he denied the longtime advice columnist’s accusation that he sexually assaulted her decades earlier.   

Meanwhile, Trump continues to mount his 2024 presidential campaign as the indisputable front-runner in the GOP primary race.  

Here’s what we know about what Trump owes and how he’ll pay while seeking to return to the White House.  

How much does Trump owe? 

Trump was ordered Friday to pay $354.8 million for conspiring to alter his net worth to receive tax and insurance benefits. 

That amount is compounded by prejudgement interest from the time he profited from his alleged fraud — at an annual rate of 9 percent, per New York law.  

Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that about half of that interest, tied to loan savings, can be calculated from 2019, when the New York attorney general’s investigation began. The rest, linked to two Trump property sales, is calculated beginning in May 2022 and June 2023.  

In total, Trump owed another $98.6 million in interest the day Engoron issued his ruling, bringing the grand total to $453.5 million. 

But that number will only continue to grow until Trump pays the penalty. Every day, interest increases the total amount Trump owes by more than $87,000.

Since Friday, when the ruling was handed down, an additional $262,506, as of Monday, has been tacked on to the initial amount.  

On top of all that, the former president owes another $83.3 million to Carroll — plus any interest required by New York law as he appeals the verdict.  

When is it due? 

Trump and his co-defendants have 30 days to appeal from the date of Engoron’s decision. Before then, they must furnish an undertaking — proof that they will pay the judgement if they lose on appeal, according to Will Thomas, a business law professor at the University of Michigan.

“An undertaking could be the full money judgment sent to the court to be held in escrow, or it could be a bond [or] surety for the total amount that was ordered at trial,” Thomas said in an email. 

Could he file for bankruptcy?  

Trump could personally file for bankruptcy, pausing the enforcement of the judgement, though such a measure is unlikely.  

The former president would have to prove the damage amounts surpass his total net worth to file for personal bankruptcy. Just Monday, he repeated claims his financial statements — documents detailing his net worth that the attorney general accused him of inflating — were “understated, not overstated.” 

However, if the Trump Organization were to file for bankruptcy, Trump would still be liable to pay under the judge’s ruling. 

How much is he worth anyway? 

Trump’s net worth is famously obscure, but estimators including Forbes and Bloomberg place his wealth between $2.6 billion and $3.1 billion.  

How much cash Trump has on hand is another question. The former president himself told lawyers with the New York attorney general’s office he has “substantially in excess of $400 million in cash.”  

“We have a lot of cash,” Trump said in a deposition last year, purporting that figure is “going up very substantially every month.” 

Estimates have put Trump’s liquid assets, or cash and personal assets, at around $600 million.

Is he going to have to sell properties? 

If Trump can’t find the cash to pay the hefty judgement, he may have to sell off some of his prized assets, Thomas said.  

“It’s going to be fairly disruptive, both because he’ll lose a lot of money and also, he’s going to be put in a position where he might have to sell some of his properties — and might even have to sell them quickly or under unfavorable conditions,” Thomas said. “It’s kind of a double whammy.” 

A previous ruling by Engoron ordering the cancellation of Trump’s business certificates for any entities that benefited from the fraud was thought to endanger numerous famous properties owned or in part controlled by Trump and his business. But the judge backed off that decision Friday, writing that canceling Trump’s licenses “could implicate serious economic concerns.”  

Still, Engoron said the previous order could be renewed if the independent monitor overseeing Trump’s business determines the company is not abiding by his ruling.  

Can Trump use campaign contributions? 

Federal election law prevents Trump from using his own campaign funds for personal use, meaning he would be unable to tap those coffers to pay off Engoron’s judgement, though Trump and his allies have claimed the cases are politically motivated. 

It is less clear whether Trump’s political action committees would be able to help pay down the fines, given that they have paid millions in legal fees already. 

“The likelihood of the Federal Election Commission in its current configuration pursuing these violations is not terribly great,” Daniel Weiner, director of the Brennan Center’s Elections and Government Program, told The Associated Press. 

But even if Trump does lean on his PACs to pay off the fines, it would only cover a portion of the amount he owes. The Trump-aligned MAGA Inc. super PAC reported having $23 million in cash on hand, according to filings made public in January. 

Will the RNC help with his legal bills? 

Trump’s campaign will get a boost once he is officially the presumptive GOP nominee for president, allowing him to jointly fundraise with the Republican National Committee (RNC). 

But a major looming question is whether he will get help from the RNC with his legal bills. 

The RNC had previously spent close to $2 million in 2021 and 2022 paying two firms working on Trump’s legal cases, but the organization stopped contributing to his bills once Trump officially launched his White House campaign. 

Trump earlier this month endorsed Michael Whatley for RNC chair and his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, to serve as co-chair. They are both expected to be approved by committee members in the coming months. Trump also said his senior adviser Chris LaCivita would move over to the RNC to oversee operations.  

Lara Trump vowed in a recent interview that “every single penny” from the RNC would go toward electing Trump if she secures the co-chair position.   

Are RNC members worried?  

The RNC has had fundraising struggles over the past year, getting significantly outraised by the Democratic National Committee. And critics have raised concerns about the party footing the bill for Trump’s legal costs, further straining resources that could be used on winning races up and down the ballot. 

“My biggest issue is I don’t want the RNC to become his legal defense fund,” Nikki Haley, Trump’s lone remaining primary rival, told CNN on Friday. “I don’t want the RNC to become his piggy bank for his personal court cases.”