The former President Donald Trump, already a wealthy man, has seen his wealth increase significantly with the soaring stock of Truth Social after the merger of Trump Media & Technology Group and Digital World Acquisition Corp.
His overall wealth has now surpassed $6.5 billion, placing him among the world’s 500 richest individuals. This increase in wealth was further boosted by a substantial reduction in his civil fraud penalty by a New York Appellate Court, from $454 million to $175 million.
Previously, Trump’s net worth had reached a high of $3.1 billion primarily due to his real estate holdings, as reported by USA Today citing the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
“Trump and his company were accused of grossly inflating the value of those holdings to get better loan and insurance terms in the civil fraud suit,” USA Today noted, without adding that the judge, Arthur Engoron, and New York Attorney General Letitia James, charged and convicted Trump of ‘crime’ in which there were no victims and that James campaigned in 2018 on “getting” Trump.
“We have a great company and are incredibly honored,” Eric Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization, said in a statement to Bloomberg.
Truth Social’s stock began trading on the Nasdaq on Tuesday under the initials “DJT.” And while the social media platform has not been profitable by any measure, neither were other major platforms, such as Twitter and even Facebook, for years after they were launched.
“Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp. surged 35% in regular trading Monday, gaining $13.01 to close at $49.95, erasing losses from Friday when investors voted to approve the deal,” USA Today reported, adding: “Truth Social’s parent company will have a market value of approximately $5.5 billion when it starts trading and Trump’s stake will be worth about $3 billion – at least on paper. That stake is included in Bloomberg’s calculation of Trump’s net worth.”
In the meantime, Trump’s attorney and spokeswoman responded to New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday following a state appeals court’s decision to reduce her client’s civil fraud penalty by over half to $175 million and granting him an additional ten days to make the payment.
“I hope she took a little piece of humble pie today because that’s what was served to her, just a little, but we’ll be serving a lot more of that in the next couple of years,” Alina Habba told Fox News host Jesse Watters Monday evening.
“I’ll post either the $175 million in cash or bonds or securities or whatever is necessary, very quickly,” Trump told reporters after the appeals ruling.
A different judge presiding over the criminal hush money case in New York has decided that the trial will commence on April 15, denying Trump’s plea for a further postponement.
The judge had previously delayed jury selection by 30 days due to concerns from defense attorneys about federal prosecutors submitting over 100,000 pages of potential evidence late.
Judge Juan Merchan ruled that the Manhattan district attorney cannot be held responsible for the delayed document production by the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, as reported by ABC News.
“The Manhattan District Attorney’s office made diligent, good faith efforts” to retrieve appropriate material, Judge Merchan said, adding that Trump will not suffer any prejudice due to the late disclosure.
During the hearing, the judge expressed uncertainty about whether a dispute over potential evidence justified a postponement or dismissal of the case’s prosecution. He also found the defense’s claims of prosecutorial misconduct to be deeply troubling.
“You are literally accusing the Manhattan DA’s office and the people assigned to this case of prosecutorial misconduct and to make me complicit in it, and you don’t have a single cite to support that position,” Merchan told Trump attorney Todd Blanche, per ABC News.
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