Amid the ongoing fraud lawsuit, the true value of Donald Trump's brand and assets has been under the microscope like never before. According to Forbes, Trump's net worth is $2.6 billion, down from a peak of $4.5 billion in 2016 and $3.2 billion last year. The ex-POTUS is now $300 million shy of the cutoff point for the Forbes 400, a list he's failed to make for the first time in two decades and a fact he's likely to resent. Former Forbes 400 reporter Johnathan Greenberg has claimed a Trump 'aide' named John Barron – a well-known alter ego of Trump himself – rang him in 1984 to help him "understand just how loaded Trump really was."
But based on analysis of Trump's recently released 2020 tax returns, forensic accountants Mark Gottlieb and Bruce Dubinsky believe the $2.6 billion figure isn't representative of the funds that Trump actually has at his disposal. The majority of Trump's reported net worth is likely made up of assets and interest payments he can't easily access, which Gottlieb describes as "phantom income."
"As phantom income, he can't touch it, feel it, smell it, or use it," Gottlieb told The Daily Beast.
The accountants have estimated that Trump's cash assets are probably between $30 million and $100 million. In 2020, according to Gottlieb: "The self-proclaimed billionaire only earned an actual income of around a million dollars. But for his wages as president and his dividends from those inaccessible partnerships, Trump's actual income that year was more like $500,000 or $600,000. Not a lot of money for a billionaire."
Let's explore what we DO know about how Donald Trump boosts his fortune...