Trump’s Net Worth Has Jumped An Estimated $600 Million Since He Left Office

Zach Everson

Staff Writer

APRIL 5, 2022

"Truth Social has already been downloaded, glitches and all, more than a million times—and has boosted Donald Trump’s net worth by an estimated $430 million," reports Dan Alexander for Forbes:

Trump Media plans to merge with a SPAC that retail traders are buying like crazy, boosting its shares from $10 to more than $50. Based on clues buried in regulatory filings, Trump probably owns at least 50%. We estimated the value of the shares Trump should eventually receive at $10 apiece, reflecting the discounted rate that a handful of smart-money investors recently agreed to pay to jump into the frenzy.

Read more: "Trump’s Net Worth Has Jumped An Estimated $600 Million Since He Left Office"

BRANDON BELL/GETTY IMAGES

Welcome To The Latest Issue Of Checks & Imbalances

Today we share reporting from Forbes' 36th-annual ranking of the planet’s richest people as well as add a few other bits of news about billionaires' influence in politics.

Checks & Imbalances usually publishes on Mondays and Thursdays. Please support this work, if you can, by subscribing to Forbes. Any tips or suggestions? Email me at zeverson@forbes.com.  And you can follow me on Twitter at @z_everson. Thanks!

In Case You Missed It

"MyPillow CEO Covered Some Travel Expenses For Kristi Noem’s PAC"

"Trump's Truth Social Still Plagued With Glitches Despite March 31 Goal To Be 'Fully Operational'"

"Florida Gov. DeSantis Wants To Punish Disney—But Won’t Go After Its Corporate Tax Breaks"

Both Trump And Musk Want To Screw With Twitter. Only One Has A Plan That’s Working.

"Let’s talk about two billionaires nursing love-hate relationships with Twitter—Elon Musk and Donald Trump—and their differing approaches to striking back at the thing they simultaneously adore and detest reports," reports Abram Brown for Forbes:

Musk and Trump seem equally eager to get back at Twitter, and here’s where their similarities end. They’re going about it entirely differently. Musk has amassed a $3.7 billion stake in Twitter, making him its largest shareholder, a position that’ll instantly make the company take him more seriously. Trump, meanwhile, has launched his own social media app, Truth Social, marketed as a would-be competitor/alternative to Twitter. It is struggling mightily to achieve as much as a launch.

Read more: "Both Trump And Musk Want To Screw With Twitter. Only One Has A Plan That’s Working."

AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Continuing Irresolutions

Updates on Checks & Imbalances’ previous reporting

“Congressional investigators have probed whether Rep. Alex X. Mooney misused taxpayer money by having staff perform personal errands and tried to determine whether he tampered with a previous ethics inquiry into his campaign spending,” Roll Call reported on Tuesday. Documents released last October disclosed that the House Office of Congressional Ethics found “substantial reason to believe” Mooney, a West Virginia Republican, may have used campaign money for personal expenses and failed to report more than $40,000 in expenditures.

*****

According to FEC records, the only political committee to contribute to Jeff Fortenberry’s legal expense trust was Jeff Fortenberry’s political action committee. Last month, a jury convicted the now-former Congressman, a Nebraska Republican, of lying to the FBI about an illegal campaign donation from a foreign national. Fortenberry’s campaign reported spending $158,000 on legal fees last year.

Sleepy PAC With Billionaire Donor Shutters

The Hero’s Fund PAC terminated last month, according to an FEC filing. The only donors to the PAC in its 21 years were billionaire Ted Turner, two of his children and a son-in-law, who each chipped in $5,000 just after it launched. As for its expenditures, the PAC donated $1,000 to Sen. Max Cleland’s (D-Ga.) losing re-election campaign in 2002 and $5,000 to Turner’s son Teddy’s unsuccessful run in a Republican primary for Congress in 2013. The Hero's Fund refunded the remaining balance to the original donors—$3,413.75 each—last month.

Thrive’s Josh Kushner: The Other Brother Becomes Family’s First Billionaire

"For the first time ever, a member of the storied Kushner family has made it onto Forbes’ list of the world’s richest people this year," reports Matt Durot:

But it’s probably not who you think. Long overshadowed by his father Charles, a real estate mogul who spent two years in prison, and older brother Jared, the son-in-law and advisor of former President Trump, 36-year-old Josh Kushner debuts with an estimated net worth of $2 billion, thanks to smart early-stage venture investments and the sale of part of his VC firm Thrive Capital.

Read more: "Thrive’s Josh Kushner: The Other Brother Becomes Family’s First Billionaire"

JAMEL TOPPIN FOR FORBES

Sarah Palin Unlikely To Get A Campaign Donation From Tina Fey (Which You Already Suspected)

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (R) filed her papers on Friday to run in a special election for Alaska’s only House seat. While Palin’s return to politics could be a boost for Tina Fey’s bottom line (not that she’s lacking for work), don’t expect Fey to invest in Palin’s election. Other than $1,500 to the never-Trumpers at the Lincoln Project, Fey's $8,600 in contributions to federal campaigns all supported Democratic causes.

The Council For National Policy Has Received $210,000 From Political Committees FEC Records Show

Since 2004, political committees have disbursed $210,000 to the Council for National Policy, according to FEC records. The CNP, a nonprofit umbrella group of right-wing organizations, pushed GOP state lawmakers to challenge the Electoral College result and appoint fake electors after the 2020 election went against their preferred candidate, the New York Times reported last month.

The most-recent pay out came from the PAC that arose out of the congressional campaign of former Secretary of Health and Human Service Tom Price. It donated $5,000 to the CNP in February.

Political committees have paid the Council for National Policy at least $210,000. Federal Election Commission

Oopsies

On Sunday, the Ameica [sic] First Party of California, USA registered with the FEC.

Tracking Trump

In the past week, law firms Labaton Sucharow and Bragar Eagel & Squire announced they were, separately, looking into Digital World Acquisition Corp. for potential violations of federal securities laws on behalf of shareholders. DWAC is the special purpose acquisition company set to merge with the Trump Media and Technology Group.

*****

Qanon influencer intheMatrixxx (real name: Jeffrey Pedersen) attended a fundraiser for a GOP candidate for Congress in Florida who has taken the QAnon oath at Mar-a-Lago last week, noted Alex Kaplan of Media Matters for America.

Twitter/Alex Kaplan

Forbes continues to update "Tracking Trump: A Rundown Of All The Lawsuits And Investigations Involving The Former President.” Among the latest developments: Trump appealed a lower court ruling that denied his motion to dismiss seven suits brought against him regarding the January 6 riots at the Capitol.

"Two key tech execs quit Truth Social after troubled app launch" (Reuters)

"Ivanka Trump to meet with House committee probing Jan. 6 attack" (ABC News)

"Trump is doing two more for-profit arena speaking gigs, via the American Freedom Tour" (Twitter/Shane Goldmacher of The New York Times)

"New filing from Jared Kushner's private equity advisory firm shows that he now has more than $2.5B in assets" (Twitter/Kate Kelly of The New York Times)

Editor's Picks

"House Ethics Committee struggles to crack down on bad behavior" (The Washington Post)

"Group backed by tech giants claims thousands of members. Many have never heard of it." (Politico)

"Former Rep. Lamar Smith has registered as a foreign agent for the first time" (Politico)

"Transparency is lacking in some members' budget reports" (LegiStorm)

"Black Lives Matter Secretly Bought a $6 Million House" (New York)

"Secret Service paying over $30K per month for Malibu mansion to protect Hunter Biden" (ABC News)

"Stacey Abrams reaches millionaire status before 2nd campaign" (The Associated Press)

"The hottest K Street trend? Working for Ukraine pro bono." (The Washington Post)

"N.Y. Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin’s campaign hit with subpoena from Manhattan DA last year, source confirms" (The New York Daily News)

"AT&T shareholders fight back" (Popular Information)

"Inside the consulting firm run by Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas" (CNBC)

"FCC confirms [Monty Tayloe of Communications Daily's] reporting from last week that Meta's Priscilla Delgado Argeris becomes chief legal advisor today." (Twitter/Jimm Phillips of Communications Daily)

"How the sausage is made: this un-bylined 2021 op-ed on the Texas news site Texas Politics, which sang the praises of the Republic of the Congo's president, was written by the country's PR consultants, per a new FARA filing." (Twitter/Lachlan Markay of Axios)

"Daniel Lubetzky, the billionaire founder of KIND snacks, is hosting a $2,900-a-head fundraiser for Dr. Oz at his home in Austin, Texas, next Monday." (Twitter/Daniel Marans of HuffPost)

"Digital ad digest: Cuomo starts spending on digital" (Politico)

"Republican Rep. Rodney Davis doesn't trade stocks. But that doesn't mean he's ready to stop other members of Congress who do." (Insider)

"Congressman [Kurt] Schrader [R-Ore.] wants to 'punish' Putin and also bought defense contractor, General Dynamics" (Twitter/congresstrading.com)

I wanna be a billionaire so ------- bad

Buy all of the things I never had

I wanna be on the cover of Forbes magazine

Smiling next to Oprah and the Queen

Travie McCoy, "Billionaire"

Zach Everson

Forbes staff writer

I took an unusual route to get here. In a past life, I worked as a travel and food writer, which is how I got the assignment in 2016 to cover the grand opening of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., just a couple miles from my home. When Trump won the election and refused to divest his business, I stayed on the story, starting a newsletter called 1100 Pennsylvania (named after the hotel’s address), and contributed to Vanity Fair, Politico and NBC News. I’m still interested in Trump, but I’ve broadened my focus to follow the money connected to other politicians as well—both Republicans and Democrats.

Follow me on Twitter.

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