Trump’s Net Worth, Boebert’s Book And Noem’s Travel

Today we look at the return of Donald Trump to the Forbes 400 and marketing for Rep. Lauren Boebert’s (R-Colo.) book.

Trump Rejoins The Forbes 400 A Year After Falling Off The List

“The New York attorney general hit Donald Trump with a $250 million lawsuit last week, accusing the real estate mogul of engaging in financial fraud by lying about the value of his assets. But make no mistake, Trump is extremely rich,” reports Dan Alexander.

In fact, the former president climbs back onto The Forbes 400 this year after dropping off 12 months ago, with his estimated net worth jumping from $2.5 billion to $3.2 billion, enough to qualify for No. 343 on the ranking of America’s richest people.

The roots of his resurgence go back to Jan. 6, 2021, when the riot on the U.S. Capitol prompted a backlash against the president. Several companies tried to distance themselves from Trump, and Twitter permanently banned him from its platform. Nine months later, out of office and sitting atop a stagnant business empire, Trump announced the creation of a new company, the Trump Media and Technology Group, and its intended competitor to Twitter, Truth Social.

The Trump Media and Technology Group is now the former president’s single most valuable asset. An analysis of Securities and Exchange Commission filings suggests that Trump owns more than 80% of the venture, which has run into a host of issues trying to go public via a special purpose acquisition company. Despite federal investigations and rumors of payment problems, retail investors were buying shares of the SPAC for $25 on September 2, when Forbes locked in the value of publicly traded holdings for this year’s list. At that price, Trump’s 73 million shares would be worth $1.8 billion. But Forbes values Trump’s interest at a more conservative $10 per share, reflecting the discounted rate that a handful of big-money investors agreed to pay for a piece of the action. At that price, Trump’s stake is worth about $730 million.

ILLUSTRATION BY WESLEY BEDROSIAN FOR FORBES

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Watch: Why Trump Is Being Sued By New York AG Letitia James

Your correspondent joined Forbes Newsroom and reporter Brittany Lewis to discuss Donald Trump’s latest legal problems.

Continuing Irresolutions

Updates on Checks & Imbalances’ previous reporting

“South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem made political-oriented trips valued at more than $98,000 to places outside South Dakota during 2021 and the first half of 2022,” reported KELO-TV. The Arkansas GOP was among Noem’s benefactors, paying $15,000 to fly her to a fundraiser in June 2021.

Boebert’s Campaign May Be Violating Election Law In Trying To Sell Her Book

The campaign for Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) has placed advertisements directing supporters to buy her new memoir from retailers, an arrangement that may violate campaign-finance laws.

Federal law prohibits candidates from shelling out campaign funds for personal purposes, defined as expenses that “would exist irrespective of the candidate’s election campaign or individual’s duties as a holder of federal office.”

On or before May 5, Boebert’s campaign began running an ad for her new book, “My American Life,” on WinRed, the Republican’s online fundraising platform that is typically used to solicit campaign donations. While a disclaimer at the bottom says that WinRed paid for the ad, the URL includes lauren-boebert-for-congress, and the ad has an option to sign up for updates from Lauren Boebert for Congress.

WinRed regularly runs ads in which candidates offer their book in exchange for a campaign donation. In those circumstances, the Federal Election Commission requires the campaign to buy the book in a manner that won’t lead to a royalty for the author (which is typically done directly from the publisher at a discount).

Boebert’s ad is different. It directs supporters to buy her books from retailers, like Amazon and Books-A-Million, purchases that could theoretically lead to royalties. (Boebert’s book deal has yet to appear on one of her annual financial disclosures.)

A spokesperson for Boebert’s campaign said the ad follows previous guidance from the Federal Election Commission. Boebert’s representatives cited two advisory opinions that stated a campaign’s website and social-media accounts may advertise a candidate’s book and direct consumers to a retailer, as long as the cost of adding that promotional material to the site and accounts would be negligible.

An expert in campaign finance, however, disagrees with that interpretation. “Both of the advisory opinions cited by them involve book advertisements placed on the campaign’s own website—not ads that were placed on someone else’s website for a fee,” said Brett Kappel, an attorney at Harmon, Curran, Spielberg & Eisenberg. “WinRed could not provide that hosting service for free, or it would be an in-kind contribution by WinRed to the campaign.” FEC records do not appear to show any such donations.

A spokesperson for WinRed did not respond to an inquiry.

In April 2021, the FEC received a similar complaint about Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) from government watchdog Campaign Legal Center. Cruz was using campaign funds to buy ads on Facebook that encourage supporters to buy his latest book at a retailer. Campaign Legal Center has not received a response to its complaint.

WinRed/Lauren Boebert for Congress

SEC Fines Oracle $23 Million, Says Company Bribed Foreign Officials

“Oracle will pay about $23 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly providing impermissible benefits to government officials in several countries, regulators announced Tuesday, marking the second such multimillion-dollar fine for the American software giant,” reported Derek Saul.

Tracking Trump

Forbes continues to update “Tracking Trump: A Rundown Of All The Lawsuits And Investigations Involving The Former President.”

Forbes

“Investors pull almost $140 million from the company planning to merge with Donald Trump’s Truth Social” (Insider)
“Donald Trump’s SPAC changes address to mailbox at UPS store” (Financial Times)
“FEC deadlocks on ‘serious’ Cindy Yang case; Republican loyalists make Trump ‘53-0’ in FEC enforcement cases” (Florida Bulldog)
“Tish James fundraising appeal vows she will ‘never be bullied’ as attacks from Trump, Cuomo mount” (Politico)
“Trump seeks approval for condo towers at Doral golf resort” (South Florida Business Journal)
“Maryland A.G. settles with Kushner-owned company over housing conditions” (Washington Post)

Editor’s Picks

“How A Pipeline Bill Gets Greenwashed” (The Lever)

“Florida Contracts Go to Companies That Flooded Ron DeSantis Campaign Fund” (The Intercept)
“How Paul LePage, Running to Lead Maine, Benefited From Florida Tax Breaks” (The New York Times)
“Taiwan paid Ballard Partners for foreign lobbying and influence campaign on behalf of Guatemala” (OpenSecrets)
“A look at the flurry of foreign influence bills released this week” (Politico)
“How Kevin McCarthy’s political machine worked to sway the GOP field” (The Washington Post)
“Democrat Annie Andrews failed for months to disclose personal finances” (The Post and Courier)
“G.O.P. Senate Hopefuls Leave Campaign Trail for Beltway Money Circuit” (New York Times)
“Campaigns spend over $6.4 billion on ads for 2022 elections, making race one of the most expensive ever” (CNBC)
“DeSantis swamps Crist on TV” (Axios)
‘Pennsylvania Democrat raises $25M this summer ahead of crucial governor’s race” (CNN)
“Latest Marco Rubio fundraising email says his campaign manager ‘hasn’t slept in days’” (Twitter/Derek Willis of Merrill College)