"Premium for presidential property" among ideas floated to inflate Trump's worth, court hears
CBSN
After journalists revealed several years ago that former President Donald Trump was likely not as wealthy as he claimed, executives at his company scrambled to justify new allegedly inflated valuations, volleying around ideas like applying a "premium for presidential property" to certain assets, according to evidence presented during Trump's civil fraud trial in New York.
The internal deliberations began after Forbes magazine revealed in 2017 that Trump's Manhattan triplex, or three-story apartment, was about a third of the size he had long claimed — about 11,000 square feet, instead of more than 30,000 — and thus far less valuable.
When Trump began reflecting the true size of the property on financial statements, its value dropped by as much as $207 million, according to a Sept. 26 ruling in the case that found Trump and others liable for fraud. A trial on allegations related to the ruling is ongoing.
