In 2004, Mr. O'Brien in writing a book about Trump asked him about his wealth:
"Trump has courted inclusion in the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans ever since the tally was first launched in 1982. He made the cut that year, when the magazine gave him props for an unspecified share of a family fortune estimated to be $200 million. Casino regulators, on the other hand, combed through his books as part of a licensing process at the time and they calculated that Trump had just $6,000 in savings, received a $100,000 salary from his wealthy father, and had snared a $1 million commission for completing a New York hotel deal -- all balanced against a $35 million credit line from a bank. In short, he appeared to be light on savings and potentially swamped in debt, which isn’t typically a recipe for robust personal wealth."
"Trump has courted inclusion in the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans ever since the tally was first launched in 1982. He made the cut that year, when the magazine gave him props for an unspecified share of a family fortune estimated to be $200 million. Casino regulators, on the other hand, combed through his books as part of a licensing process at the time and they calculated that Trump had just $6,000 in savings, received a $100,000 salary from his wealthy father, and had snared a $1 million commission for completing a New York hotel deal -- all balanced against a $35 million credit line from a bank. In short, he appeared to be light on savings and potentially swamped in debt, which isn’t typically a recipe for robust personal wealth."
"Trump climbed the Forbes list in subsequent years, earning his place in 1989 based on the notion that he had $1.7 billion. Then he disappeared entirely in 1990, not to return until 1996. Forbes speculated that Trump’s wealth in 1990 may have dropped to zero, when, in fact, his personal loan guarantees of $900 million at the time put him well below even that. He appeared on the Forbes 400 again in 1996 and has been a mainstay ever since."
"In 2004, while I was trying to assess Trump’s wealth, he told me that he was worth $4 billion to $5 billion before lowering the figure later that day to $1.7 billion. My sources -- individuals who worked with Trump and had a good sense of his finances -- thought he was worth $150 million to $250 million. Trump sued me for publishing that figure as part of a range of assessments of his wealth, saying it had damaged his reputation and business. Among the documents discussed during the litigation was a Deutsche Bank assessment from 2005 that put Trump’s net worth at about $788 million; at the time, Forbes had pegged Trump at $2.7 billion, he was telling bankers and regulators that he was worth $3.6 billion, and he was telling me he was worth $5 billion to $6 billion (a billion or two more than what he had told me the year before)."
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-05-20/trump-s-financial-report-that-s-rich
No wonder this hurt his reputation. When you remember Fred Trump gave his son $40 million in 1974, even $250 million would not be much beyond the rate of inflation. But if by his own admission in 2004 he was at $1.7 billion, even that's not a great return by any stretch. An index fund would way overperform.
In other news, some Never Trumpers are arguing that he shouldn't get the GOP nomination until he releases his tax returns:
"Trump has courted inclusion in the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans ever since the tally was first launched in 1982. He made the cut that year, when the magazine gave him props for an unspecified share of a family fortune estimated to be $200 million. Casino regulators, on the other hand, combed through his books as part of a licensing process at the time and they calculated that Trump had just $6,000 in savings, received a $100,000 salary from his wealthy father, and had snared a $1 million commission for completing a New York hotel deal -- all balanced against a $35 million credit line from a bank. In short, he appeared to be light on savings and potentially swamped in debt, which isn’t typically a recipe for robust personal wealth."
"Trump has courted inclusion in the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans ever since the tally was first launched in 1982. He made the cut that year, when the magazine gave him props for an unspecified share of a family fortune estimated to be $200 million. Casino regulators, on the other hand, combed through his books as part of a licensing process at the time and they calculated that Trump had just $6,000 in savings, received a $100,000 salary from his wealthy father, and had snared a $1 million commission for completing a New York hotel deal -- all balanced against a $35 million credit line from a bank. In short, he appeared to be light on savings and potentially swamped in debt, which isn’t typically a recipe for robust personal wealth."
"Trump climbed the Forbes list in subsequent years, earning his place in 1989 based on the notion that he had $1.7 billion. Then he disappeared entirely in 1990, not to return until 1996. Forbes speculated that Trump’s wealth in 1990 may have dropped to zero, when, in fact, his personal loan guarantees of $900 million at the time put him well below even that. He appeared on the Forbes 400 again in 1996 and has been a mainstay ever since."
"In 2004, while I was trying to assess Trump’s wealth, he told me that he was worth $4 billion to $5 billion before lowering the figure later that day to $1.7 billion. My sources -- individuals who worked with Trump and had a good sense of his finances -- thought he was worth $150 million to $250 million. Trump sued me for publishing that figure as part of a range of assessments of his wealth, saying it had damaged his reputation and business. Among the documents discussed during the litigation was a Deutsche Bank assessment from 2005 that put Trump’s net worth at about $788 million; at the time, Forbes had pegged Trump at $2.7 billion, he was telling bankers and regulators that he was worth $3.6 billion, and he was telling me he was worth $5 billion to $6 billion (a billion or two more than what he had told me the year before)."
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-05-20/trump-s-financial-report-that-s-rich
No wonder this hurt his reputation. When you remember Fred Trump gave his son $40 million in 1974, even $250 million would not be much beyond the rate of inflation. But if by his own admission in 2004 he was at $1.7 billion, even that's not a great return by any stretch. An index fund would way overperform.
In other news, some Never Trumpers are arguing that he shouldn't get the GOP nomination until he releases his tax returns:
"Fear of a major bombshell is one of several factors still driving the effort to find a third candidate. Bill Kristol, who is front and center in the third-candidate search, queries,”Who knows what Trump’s tax returns will show? And can he sustain a posture of not releasing them?” He explains, “A good independent candidate is worth supporting in his own right, as an alternative to Trump and Clinton. But it’s also worth having someone else on the ballot in the event of a Trump implosion.”
"In a very immediate sense, Trump’s refusal to release his returns may lead to a chaotic convention or even a standoff if delegates recognize they have an obligation to protect the party from a blowup. “If Donald Trump doesn’t release his returns before the Republican convention, people have every reason to believe they will leak afterwards,” says veteran conservative columnist and prominent #NeverTrump supporter Quin Hillyer. “If there is a bombshell in there, and there’s no third candidate, it would hand the White House to Clinton or [Bernie] Sanders. A third candidate provides a desperately needed way out of that disaster.” Other conservatives have suggested abstaining in the balloting until Trump turns over his tax records."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2016/05/23/reluctant-pro-trump-republicans-are-kidding-themselves/
"In a very immediate sense, Trump’s refusal to release his returns may lead to a chaotic convention or even a standoff if delegates recognize they have an obligation to protect the party from a blowup. “If Donald Trump doesn’t release his returns before the Republican convention, people have every reason to believe they will leak afterwards,” says veteran conservative columnist and prominent #NeverTrump supporter Quin Hillyer. “If there is a bombshell in there, and there’s no third candidate, it would hand the White House to Clinton or [Bernie] Sanders. A third candidate provides a desperately needed way out of that disaster.” Other conservatives have suggested abstaining in the balloting until Trump turns over his tax records."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2016/05/23/reluctant-pro-trump-republicans-are-kidding-themselves/
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