Trump adamant that he can prevail

August 11

While Donald Trump's Hotels and Casino Resorts heads along into Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring, it is stated that he himself must invest approximately $55 million of his own money in the venture to keep a large ownership claim. Knowing this, some wonder if he has the required $55 million.

In true classic Trump form, he says he does have it, and much more. Trump said Tuesday that his net worth is between 4 and 5 billion dollars. This amount clearly shows that it would be very easy to put up the mere $55 million needed to reorganize the casino situation.

In the interview Trump goes on to say that he is very, very liquid and that he has the cash on hand.

Quite frankly, it is just about impossible to independently figure out just how wealthy Trump is, since most of his assets are privately held real estate investments including a proposed Las Vegas condominium tower that lacks the kind of unforgiving financial disclosure required of his publicly traded casino holdings. However, a sampled look at Trump's finances might suggest that his claims of being a billionaire might be exaggerated.

Up until about last week, Trump's casino holdings were said to be worth approximately $34.5 million. This was when Trump Hotels' stock was still trading around $2 a share on the New York Stock Exchange. As of Tuesday, the stock traded over the counter for 36 cents a share. Trump, on Tuesday repeatedly stated that his hotels' stock reflected only around 2 % of his wealth; based on the pre-bankruptcy trading price of the shares, that would give him a net worth of about $1.7 billion. This amount  is well below the $4 billion to $5 billion figure he stated earlier in the day.

It is noted that the amount of  $1.7 billion might  even be an over zealous assessment of Trump's wealth.

Even though he now separates himself from his casino business, for most of his life in the public eye casinos represented a primary pillar of his wealth, with a substantial inheritance from his wealthy father and his real estate holdings making up the rest. But his past issues with personal bankruptcy have caused him to either sell a few of his prized real estate holdings or give up control of what remained to outside investors.  While he still owns some prime properties, his overall real estate holdings have been largely reduced.

Two people with direct knowledge of the matter said that in the middle of his earlier financial crisis he borrowed somewhere between 20 and 30 million dollars from his father's $150 million estate to stave off creditors.

Trump argued against  that Tuesday, though he did not give up the value of his father's estate. He said that he did not borrow from his father's estate. He gave his word.