The Times reported that Trump has at least $650 million in debt, less than half the amount ($315 million) he reported on disclosure forms he filed as part of his bid for president.
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“I’m very rich”, Donald Trump has often said to woo the crowds, talking about the fine marble in his hotels and the millions of dollars he has both given to the veterans and to funding his campaign.
Besides the numbers themselves though, the one thing that the Times analysis makes clear is just how much Trump’s business “remains shrouded in mystery”, a mystery that is unlikely to end soon considering he has refused to publicly release his tax returns.
The Trump Organization’s chief financial officer, Weisselberg, also told The Times that debts for properties where a Trump company owned less than a 100% stake were not disclosed on the form.
The two major backers are the Bank of China and Goldman Sachs. Among the lenders: the Bank of China, one of the largest banks in a country that Mr. Trump has railed against as an economic foe of the United States, and Goldman Sachs, a financial institution he has said controls Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, after it paid her $675,000 in speaking fees.
If the loans were to default, the value of his investments would plummet, even if he were not held personally liable.
Trump has recently referred to himself as the “king of debt” when describing his business prowess, though the real estate mogul has also sought to emphasize that he has less debt now than he has had in the past.
The publication found three instances where Trump had ownership interest in a building but did not disclose the related debt.
Mr Trump’s limited partnerships, of which there are many, have debt of close to $2bn, according to public documents.
In fact, Trump has bragged about his debt, saying in June, “Nobody knows debt better than me”.
The candidate’s most anticipated real estate project is the Trump International Hotel in the Old Post Office building in Washington.
It appears that GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, typically a fan the huge and dissolute, has been minimizing public perception of his debt.
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Trump has said that if he were elected president, his children would be likely to run his company.
