The newspaper found that holdings by Trump have debt amounting to at least $650 million – a far cry from the amount ($315 million) filed on the personal financial disclosure forms he gave to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
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A “substantial portion” of Trump’s wealth stems from three partnerships that owe another $2 billion.
Trump’s dealings also depend on a variety of sources, one of which he has repeatedly attacked during his campaign: China, The Times found.
An office building in Manhattan, which Trump partly owns, carries a $950 million loan, partially overseen by the Bank of China, one of the largest in the country. (Over the course of his career, four of Trump’s businesses have declared bankruptcy.) Trump has also insisted that he is worth a total of $10 billion, but neither he nor his campaign have backed that number up with evidence, and major business magazines have estimated his worth as less than $5 billion.
Another lender in that quartet is Goldman Sachs, the financial firm that Trump says his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton is beholden to because it paid her $675,000 in speaking fees, the Times said.
Although the paper does not accuse him of any wrongdoing, the investigation “underscored how much of Mr Trump’s business remains shrouded in mystery”.
However, he has dismissed mounting pressure even from within his own party to disclose his tax returns or allow an independent valuation of his assets.
The investigation shows just how little we actually know about Trump’s business, the Times reports.
All of this leads up the Times’ primary viewpoint of what could happen should Trump be elected: “As president, Mr. Trump would have substantial sway over monetary and tax policy, as well as the power to make appointments that would directly affect his own financial empire”. If those loans were to go into default, Trump might not be held personally liable, but the value of his investments would sink.
In 2015, Trump borrowed $160 million from Ladder Capital, a small NY firm, which his financial-disclosure form simply lists as valued at more than $50 million. It alleged that the form was “designed for candidates with simpler finances than [Trump’s], and did not require disclosure of portions of [Trump’s] business activities”.
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Trump has said that if he were elected president, his children would be likely to run his company.
