Benzinga - by Shanthi Rexaline, Benzinga Editor.
Former President Donald Trump conned his way into the Forbes 400 list in 1984, according to a recent interview his niece Mary Trump did with former Forbes reporter Jonathan Greenberg.
What Happened: Forbes began publishing its annual list of the 400 richest people in America in 1982, and Greenberg was head of research at that time. When looking at the former president’s financial statements in 1984, Greenberg said Donald Trump had $500 million in cash and liquid assets.
“Thirty years later… this big expose at the Washington Post showed that Donald Trump is worth $5 million,” Greenberg revealed.
“[Donald] Trump really had none of this wealth and he convinced me otherwise,” he added.
Donald Trump had allegedly told Greenberg that he was the one who had bought much of the real estate and built them up himself and that his father’s contribution to his investments was meager.
The former Forbes reporter also told Mary Trump he had never met anyone who was as insecure as Donald Trump.
Why It’s Important: In a 2018 Washington Post story, Greenberg delved into how Donald Trump had posed as “John Barron,” an official from the Trump Organization, during a phone call back in May 1984. While pretending to be the official, the former president reportedly told Greenberg that his father’s assets “had been consolidated” to him.
On Thursday, Mary Trump wrote in a Substack post that her uncle has been deceiving people by making them believe that he is enormously wealthy and that his wealth is self-made. She also referred to a 2018 New York Times investigative story that revealed that the bulk of what Donald Trump possesses had belonged to his father.
The former president was recently booted out of the Forbes 400 list as his net worth dropped from $3.2 billion in 2022 to $2.6 billion, leaving him $300 million shy of the ranking’s cutoff.
Discussions regarding Donald Trump’s wealth assume particular importance as he is facing a civil case in New York for inflating the value of his properties and assets in order to take advantage of loans. While an appraisal report from the city of Palm Beach in Florida valued the Mar-A-Lago at $18 million to $27.6 million between 2011 and 2021, Donald Trump previously claimed the property is "WORTH 50 to 100 times” that value.
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