Here’s Who Could Loan Trump $540 Million

Forbes

The billionaire ex-president needs a cash infusion to pay his mounting legal fines, but major U.S. banks remain skittish and his billionaire friends are silent. These are the individuals and institutions that might have his back.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnhyatt/2024/02/28/heres-who-could-loan-trump-540-million/?sh=ebdb88a37464  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

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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