Here's Why The Kushners Are Unlikely To Help Pay Trump's Bond

Forbes

Former President Donald Trump will not have to immediately post a bond for more than $454 million in the civil fraud case against him and his company, an appeals court said Monday, ruling that Trump can delay payment of the full bond while he appeals the ruling as long as he posts a partial $175 million bond within 10 days. The former president could turn to his many rich friends, but none have evidently come to his rescue so far. There are also his wealthy family members: the Kushners.   In 2017, Forbes estimated the net worth of his son-in-law Jared Kushner’s family at $1.8 billion, including $1.1 billion in real estate and $200 million in cash and liquid assets. If that cash appreciated at the same rate as the S&P 500, it would now be worth around $380 million—still not enough to bail out Trump.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/giacomotognini/2024/03/22/heres-why-the-kushners-are-unlikely-to-help-pay-trumps-bond/?sh=2c6c8f6d1f6c  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 Tuesday, March 26.

00:05 Today on Forbes, here's why the Kushners are unlikely to help pay Trump's bond.

00:11 Yesterday, a New York state appeals court said that former President Donald Trump will

00:17 not have to immediately post a bond for more than $454 million in the civil fraud case

00:23 against him and his company.

00:25 The court said that Trump can delay payment of the full appeals bond as long as he posts

00:30 a partial $175 million bond within 10 days.

00:35 He had until yesterday, March 25, to post the appeals bond in the full amount plus interest

00:41 before New York Attorney General Letitia James had planned to collect on the judgment.

00:45 Last week, Trump's attorneys said in a legal filing that he was unable to secure the bond

00:50 for the full amount.

00:52 Even with a reduced bond of $175 million, it's still unclear whether Trump can find

00:58 a company to underwrite that amount, or even if he has the collateral to put up.

01:03 This, after already posting a bond for $91.6 million earlier in March in a separate civil

01:08 case judgment against him for sexual abuse and defamation of the writer E. Jean Carroll.

01:14 To come up with a reduced bond, the former president could turn to his many rich friends,

01:19 but none have evidently come to his rescue so far.

01:22 There are also his wealthy family members, the Kushners.

01:26 In 2017, Forbes estimated the net worth of his son-in-law Jared Kushner's family at $1.8

01:32 billion, including $1.1 billion in real estate and $200 million in cash and liquid assets.

01:39 Forbes estimated the combined net worth of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump at $375 million

01:45 in 2019, with most of it, $324 million, coming from Jared.

01:51 Since leaving the White House in 2021, Kushner has gotten back into business.

01:56 He still owns part of the Kushner Companies, the family's New York-based real estate firm

02:01 that claims to have $16 billion in assets.

02:04 The company was founded in 1985 by Jared's father, Charles, who ran it until he was sentenced

02:09 to two years in prison for illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering

02:15 in 2005, leading to Jared taking a larger role in the family business.

02:20 In his last financial disclosure as a senior advisor to the Trump administration in 2021,

02:25 he disclosed between $206 million and $801 million in assets, minus a range of $26 million

02:32 to $130 million in liabilities.

02:35 In the same disclosure, he disclosed income between $21 million and $114 million.

02:42 For her part, Ivanka reported between $600,000 and $1.5 million in assets and about $2.6

02:49 million in income.

02:51 It's highly unlikely that Kushner would come to Trump's aid, even if he could.

02:56 For starters, much of his family's wealth is tied up in real estate.

03:00 About 60% of Kushner's assets in his disclosure were interests in commercial and residential

03:05 real estate, most of them tied to his family's company.

03:09 In court filings, Trump's lawyers stated that securing the bond was a "practical impossibility,"

03:15 partly because many bond companies refused to accept "hard assets such as real estate

03:20 as collateral."

03:23 It's likely that the Kushners, were they to try to secure the bond on Trump's behalf,

03:27 would face the same issues.

03:29 And much like Trump himself, they have their own debt to deal with.

03:34 According to Real Capital Analytics, the firm's properties, including joint ventures, have

03:39 an estimated total value of $9 billion and $4.7 billion in debt at origination.

03:47 Most of the Kushners' property holdings are made up of apartments, with the largest

03:50 portion concentrated in New York and New Jersey.

03:54 The Kushners haven't had much luck turning those assets into hard cash recently.

03:58 In December, the firm sold a portfolio of three apartment buildings in Manhattan's

04:02 East Village for $57 million, $12 million less than the value they had been appraised

04:08 at in December 2019, when the company took out a $45.1 million loan on the portfolio.

04:15 That's not surprising, given the sales of multi-family buildings in New York fell by

04:19 52% in 2023 compared to the year before, according to Ariel Property Advisors.

04:26 Then there's Jared's Affinity Partners, a private equity firm that he founded in 2021.

04:32 The firm held about $3.1 billion in assets under management, and Kushner was listed as

04:37 the sole owner, according to its latest SEC filing from March 2023.

04:42 The firm's assets, $3 billion, includes the $2 billion that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment

04:48 Fund reportedly invested in 2021, according to The New York Times, a deal that has come

04:54 under scrutiny.

04:56 But regardless, that money is likely unavailable for use in this case.

05:01 For full coverage, check out Giacomo Tognini's piece on Forbes.com.

05:07 This is Ciarán Meadows from Forbes, thanks for tuning in.

05:10 [music]

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