The GoFundMe page set up to pay for Donald Trump's civil fraud fine will take almost six years to hit $355 million in donations, if the rate at which people are donating to it remains the same.
Last Friday, Elena Cardone, the wife of real estate businessman Grant Cardone, made the GoFundMe page titled "Stand with Trump; Fund the $355M Unjust Judgment" following Judge Arthur Engoron's ruling the same day that Trump will have to pay roughly $355 million in penalties for fraud.
At the time of writing on Friday morning, the fundraiser has received $1,058,227 from some 19,100 donations, a week after it was launched.
If this trajectory remains the same, it will take 5.8 years for Trump to rake in the full $355 million he owes in fine, before interest.
It comes after the New York court held that Trump and top executives at The Trump Organization committed fraud by inflating the value of his assets to obtain more favorable terms from lenders and insurers. New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the lawsuit, said that with pre-judgment interest the penalty totals over $450 million—an amount "which will continue to increase every single day" until the judgment is paid.
Trump's lawyers have said they will appeal the judgement.
Christopher Phelps, a professor of modern American history at the University of Nottingham in the U.K., told Newsweek the page is unlikely to "have any staying power."
He said: "This GoFundMe campaign, like most such efforts, will see an initial boost of enthusiasm, but that is powered by the particular dynamics of this presidential year. It is highly improbable that it will have any staying power.
"Furthermore, $1 million hardly makes a dent in Trump's adverse judgments. Plus he's got bigger problems, like the 91 felony indictments that if resulting in conviction will almost surely mean jail time."
Meanwhile, Engoron on Thursday rejected a request from the defense to delay the enforcement of penalties.
It has been speculated that Trump may have to sell off some of his real estate empire in order to fully pay the penalty issued to him.
But if he doesn't pay the fine, James told ABC News in an interview on Tuesday that if Trump does not have the funds to pay the penalty, she is prepared to ask a judge to "seize his assets."
"We are prepared to make sure that the judgment is paid to New Yorkers," James said.
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Kate Plummer is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on U.S. politics and national affairs, and ... Read more
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