Embarrassing GoFundMe for Donald Trump raises just 0.02% of bill for civil fraud
Donald Trump has been ordered by a court to pay more than half a billion dollars — and his supporters are trying to help out.
A GoFundMe campaign to assist Donald Trump is being mocked for raising just 0.02 per cent of the $544 million he has been ordered to pay.
It comes as Mr Trump’s legal bills mount. He recently ordered to pay $126 million in damages for defamation.
Some of his supporters are attempting to assist the billionaire with raising the cash, but have hardly made a dent in the whopping total.
The former president, his family, associates and entities he controls were hit with the punishing bill of $544 million ($US355 million) on February 16 by the Supreme Court of New York.
The court heard the defendants were liable for civil fraud because they had submitted inflated valuations of properties in order to obtain better rates on bank loans and insurance policies.
Donald Trump’s sons Donald Jr. and Eric, accountant Allen Weisselberg and the Trump Organization LLC were among the co-defendants.
In his judgement Justice Arthur F. Engoron quoted English poet Alexander Pope writing: “‘To err is human, to forgive is divine.’ [The] defendants apparently are of a different mind... Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological. They are accused only of inflating asset values to make more money. The documents prove this over and over again.
“... Donald Trump is not Bernard Madoff. Yet, defendants are incapable of admitting the error of their ways. Instead, they adopt a ‘See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ posture that the evidence belies.”
Donald Trump was also banned from conducting business in New York, the state of his birth, for three years.
Mr Trump previously referred to a ban as akin to the “corporate death penalty.”
The 45th President of the United States was also recently hit with a massive $126 million in damages for defaming writer E Jean Carroll because of his comments after she stated he had raped her in the mid-1990s.
His net worth is estimated to be about $4 billion ($US2.6 billion) and he recently testified that he has about $614 million (US$400 million) in cash.
Mr Trump, the frontrunner to be the Republican nominee for the US election in November, could be required to deposit the entire judgement amount, plus interest, in order to appeal.
Alternatively he may be able to obtain a loan known as an appeal bond — which is a much smaller amount, although securing that loan could be difficult due to Justice Engoron’s findings.
In the meantime, a supporter has began a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for the billionaire.
$7,549 down … only $354,992,451 to go. 🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/vDcgGw7DcM
— Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) February 17, 2024
Elena Cardone, the wife of Grant Cardone, is behind the campaign and wrote: “I stand unwaveringly with President Donald Trump in the face of what I see as unprecedented and unfair treatment by certain judicial elements in New York.”
It’s unclear if the campaign violates GoFundMe’s rules.
So far 3200 people have donated $205,000 ($US134,014). Although a sizeable amount at face-value, it is just 0.02 per cent of the $544 million Mr Trump will need to find.
The campaign was mocked on social media, with one person writing: “Currently. Not going [too] well.”
Another quipped: “I thought he was a billionaire?”
Trump’s sons found liable
Mr Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr. were also found liable in the case and ordered to pay more than $US4 million each, prompting Don Jr. to claim on social media that “political beliefs” had determined the outcome.
The Trump Organization, an avowedly family business, will also be forced by the ruling to allow in an independent compliance director answerable to the court.
It was as a property developer and businessman in New York that Mr Trump built his public profile which he used as a springboard into the entertainment industry and ultimately the presidency.
The judge’s order was a victory for New York state Attorney General Letitia James. She had sought $US370 million from Mr Trump to remedy the advantage he is alleged to have wrongfully obtained, as well as having him barred from conducting business in the state.
“This is a tremendous victory for this state, this nation, and for everyone who believes that we all must play by the same rules – even former presidents,” Ms James said.
Mr Trump has repeatedly attacked Ms James, calling her a “lunatic,” as well as smearing Justice Engoron, who decided the case without a jury, calling him “out of control.”
During highly technical testimony, the court heard that in one case Mr Trump valued Mar-a-Lago, his exclusive Florida club, by using “asking prices,” rather than actual sales prices, for a comparison.
“From 2011-2015 defendants added a 30 per cent premium because the property was a ‘completed (commercial) facility,’” the prosecution said, arguing it unlawfully distorted its true value.
Mr Trump’s lawyer Chris Kise said “there is no clear and present evidence establishing intent by Donald Trump.”
Mr Kise acknowledged there could be errors in Mr Trump’s corporate financial statements but none “lead to the conclusion there was fraud.”
Legal whirlwind
The ruling caps a whirlwind legal week for Mr Trump.
He appeared in a New York court Thursday ahead of a criminal trial, where he faces charges of illegally covering up hush money payments. It will be the first criminal trial of a former US president.
Mr Trump’s lawyers were also representing him in Atlanta, Georgia, where he is accused of conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden.
A separate trial on Mr Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election is on hold in Washington, DC, while he attempts to assert presidential immunity.
The twice-impeached former president is due to go on trial in Florida in May on charges of taking troves of highly secret documents when he left the presidency and thwarting officials trying to recover them.
– with AFP
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