Whither the King of Debt?

Examining the Financial Hole Trump Is in -- a Beginning

Fans of The Art of the Deal may want to cover their eyes; delighters in Trump's braggart pronouncements, their ears. Donald Trump owes his debtors $900 million (possibly more) in loan paybacks and paydowns as of October 2020. It's probably more a fiscal quarter later. But let's work with a figure of at least of $1B (with a "b") of indebtedness.

. . .lenders will expect his businesses to pay back an estimated $900 million in the next four years, an alarmingly accelerated timetable that involves more than twice as much debt as (he) previously indicated.

Trump came into office with a staggering $300M owed to Deutsche Bank. We came to learn, two years later that. . .

Based on publicly available documents, Trump’s overall debt is almost certainly higher than the $421 million in personal obligations reported by the NY Times. Mother Jones reported this summer that Trump’s debts added up to roughly $500 million.

It's common knowledge that Trump's businesses took severe hits while he was in office, largely due to his increasingly deplorable actions that essentially (with a little help from Ivanka) destroyed his "brand" and to the pandemic. Now you may also remember that Trump claimed and got a $73 million dollar IRS refund that he'll probably have to repay, pending the outcome of lawsuit(s). Plus penalties and interest, for the unpaid tax he really owed.

Regardless of loan negotiations and refinancing moves attempted and accomplished in the last 4 years, Trump owes a great deal of money to lots of note holders over the next 4. Many of whom are unknown, and likely could be oligarchs, launderers, and sketchy banks since his personal (Signature) bank and Deutsche Bank are no longer willing to fork over dough or extend extensions to his repayment schedule.

Combine his billion dollar debt with the decline in value of his assets (est. at $3.66 billion), his net worth could sit somewhere around $2.5 billion. Could Trump afford saying goodbye to nearly half that? Probably not.

The man owes so many people money. He may even be sued by cities all over the US that played host to his COVID rallies and didn't get paid by his campaign. He may, for all we know, have to pay back political donations made to him in 2016, if he didn't keep the primary pot separate from the election race pot. And no one knows what, if any, unpaid campaign debt he's still owing for his 2020 run.

Wouldn't it be fun to investigate how much debt Trump really is king of and who all his emperor debt masters are? I'm looking forward to seeing how he comes up with the cash to make good and avoid becoming a pauper, no longer a prince.

1290 Avenue of the Americas
What Trump owes: $285 million
Who is the creditor: Unclear (see below)
When it’s due: November 2022
Interest rate: 3.34%
( A multi-bank deal, including Bank of China. China sold off its portion of the loan they made. To whom not known.)

Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C.
What Trump owes: Est. $170 million
Who is the creditor: Deutsche Bank
When it’s due: Sometime in 2024
Interest rate: Variable
(the New York Times, which has access to Trump’s tax-return data, recently reported that the loan has a balance of $160 million. Regardless of the exact amount of principal outstanding, it doesn’t appear that the hotel is doing well enough to cover the interest expenses with profits from the business.)

555 California Street
What Trump owes: Est. $162 million
Who is the creditor: Unclear (see below)
When it’s due: September 2021
Interest rate: 5.1%
(Trump also owns a 30% stake alongside Vornado in 555 California Street, a skyscraper in downtown San Francisco. . .Vornado announced that it was considering whether to recapitalize 555 California Street and 1290 Avenue of the Americas. Any transaction involving those two buildings could have a huge effect on Trump’s business, given that his stakes in the two properties are his most valuable assets.)

40 Wall Street
What Trump owes: $138 million
Who is the creditor: Ladder Capital
When it’s due: July 6, 2025
Interest rate: 3.665%
(Weeks after announcing his initial presidential run, Trump refinanced his skyscraper in downtown Manhattan, borrowing $160 million. He has been paying down the debt ever since, but he still owes $138 million.)

Trump National Doral
What Trump owes: Est. $125 million
Who is the creditor: Deutsche Bank
When it’s due: Sometime in 2023
Interest rate: Variable
(The New York Times reported last month -- Sept. 2020 -- that Trump’s balance totals $148 million.)

Trump Tower
What Trump owes: $100 million
Who is the creditor: Ladder Capital
When it’s due: September 6, 2022
Interest rate: 4.2%
(The property kicked off $13.3 million of net operating income in 2019, more than enough to cover the roughly $4.2 million Trump owes in annual interest expenses. Paying back the $100 million principal, due in two years, could be more complicated.)

Trump International Hotel & Tower (Chicago)
What Trump owes: More than $75 million
Who are the creditors: Deutsche Bank, Chicago Unit Acquisition LLC
When it’s due: 2024 for part of it, unclear for the rest
Interest rate: Variable
(Too much of a "rob Peter to pay Paul" set up involved with this building to disentangle!)

Trump Plaza
What Trump owes: $13 million
Who is the creditor: Ladder Capital
When it’s due: July 6, 2024
Interest rate: 3.85%
(From 2017 to 2019, one of the tenants paying rent to Trump Plaza LLC was Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign. -- another foggy mess; see comments in post about campaign finance debt.)

And that's just what's due the next four years. Imagine the national security risk Trump would have been and the conflicts of interest he would have engaged in to meet payments and payoffs if he'd been reelected.

>1 Limelite: And in regards to the hotel in DC, I read the following in an article...

In addition, because Trump's D.C. hotel is located in a federally owned building, the Biden administration is his landlord. If Trump seeks to renegotiate his lease, or to get federal approval for a sale of the building, he will be dealing with Biden's General Services Administration."

https://www.rawstory.com/the-names-toxic-trump-org-in-crisis-and-bleeding-money-...

>1 Limelite: The very interesting story behind the Chicago Acquisition Unit:

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/09/donald-trump-has-never-explained-a-...

SO much fraud!

>2 rastaphrog:

I haven't looked into it, but isn't the DC hotel in a former post office, or railroad terminal -- something like that? If it's a leased building rather than owned, then refinancing is close to impossible w/o some other collateral than the real estate itself. In addition, Trump can't sell it to liquidate a loss and/or generate cash to retire outstanding loans. Tough.

I hope the GSA finds it necessary to make life hell for him for as long as his brand is on the property.

>4 Limelite: Yes, it was the Old Post Office, leased for 60 years. Unless, of course, something happens to change that.

>5 kiparsky: I think my husband worked on that building in the 80s. I might still have blueprints. Must look.

>3 MsMixte:

Read the Mother Jones article -- thanks for the link! -- and I think that without explicitly concluding so, it has made obvious that the Chicago financing scheme is a loan that exists only on paper for purpose of giving Trump a place to hide taxable income from his deal with the original lender. Debt parking is being used by him as a stratagem that allows him to "be his own banker," a characterization he's bragged about. 'No, I built a great business and don’t need banks, but if I did they would be there,' he tweeted.

The article confesses that the IRS audit wouldn't detect if or how an illegal debt parking scheme occurred. That it would take a forensic accountant to dig through the paper and find the clues. Well, unlucky for Trump, it looks like Vance, who is leading the investigation into the NY tax case against him, might have just got one to look at the papers it has in its possession already.

While SCOTUS hasn't ruled on Trump being forced to turn over 2011-2018(?) returns in compliance with the NY AG subpoena, Vance's team has had access to a lot of his financial transactions papers. Because they do, Vance hired a forensic accounting firm, FTI Consulting, to aid in his investigation.

The person with knowledge of the investigation told (WaPo) that FTI's analysts had likely already reviewed some of Trump's dealings as part of a grand-jury investigation and could testify if criminal charges were filed.

That happened at the end of last month, and I imagine, further, that the news today that Vance has called back Michael Cohen for further interviews is connected to FTI discoveries made and/or suspected illegal financial maneuverings being confirmed by the forensic accountants.

Both actions more than hint that Vance is at the point of preparing witnesses for testimony and that charges against Trump are soon to be filed after two years of investigation.

Recently Retired Old Man of Mar-a-Lago Sees Second Florida Bank Refuse His Business

Two Miami-area banks have severed ties with Trump.

Miami Lakes-based BankUnited announced it was ending its relationship with the former president. New financial records show Trump maintained two money-market accounts there that held a total of more than $5.1 million.

“We never had a lending relationship with Donald Trump and we no longer have any depository relationship with him,” a bank representative said in an emailed statement.

Coral Gables-based firm, Professional Bank, loaned $11.2 million to Trump’s family in 2018 to purchase a property adjacent to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, and also held a money-market account in Trump’s name valued between $5 million and $25 million.

The terminations follow moves by Trump’s main financial backers, Deutsche Bank AG and New York-based Signature Bank, which ended relationships with Trump and his related business entities following the Jan. 6 riots on Capitol Hill. Signature, a longtime banker to Trump’s family, called on the former president to resign following the insurrection.

“We have never before commented on any political matter and hope to never do so again,” Signature said in its statement. The bank will not do business in the future with any members of Congress who voted to disregard Electoral College results, Bloomberg reported.

Neither Miami area bank gave further details about their decision, but there are two possible guesses: 1) Trump cashed out his account in the one and stiffed the other for his real estate loan after cashing out of it, too. Or, 2) Political troubles and probable criminal troubles Trump will soon be defending are enough to realize they've probably been used to launder money for a crook.

>4 Limelite: I hope the GSA finds it necessary to make life hell for him for as long as his brand is on the property

I would rather hope that the GSA finds it necessary to treat him as impartially as it would treat any other tenant, showing neither favour nor petty vindictiveness.