Trump is racking up $2.6 million in interest for every month that he hasn't paid his $355 million fine
Trump has to pay 9% per annum interest on penalties backdated as early as 2019, bringing his owed total to around $454 million and counting.
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- Donald Trump faces a 9% per annum interest rate for the $355 million fraud penalty against him.
- Judge Arthur Engoron ruled on Friday that the interest will be backdated as early as March 2019.
- That means Trump has already accrued $100 million in interest penalties.
Former President Donald Trump has been ordered to pay interest for the $355 million in penalties from the New York case against him, and it's likely already added about $100 million to his total fine.
Judge Arthur Engoron ruled on Friday that Trump's total amount owed would also include a 9% per annum interest accrued from as early as March 2019. If the former president paid in full today, it should cost him around $450 million.
Trump's total fine stems from three different penalties that were dated separately.
The first involves $168 million that Trump saved in interest through fraud from March 2019. He will have to pay the 9% per annum interest for that amount, in line with state law, resulting in an extra $75 million so far.
The second penalty is over the $126 million profit that Trump received from selling the Old Post Office in Washington, DC, which Engoron ruled was done using financial documents containing false information. Trump will have to pay interest on this dating back to May 2022, which is currently $20 million.
The third is $60 million from Trump's profits in the sale of Ferry Point, a golf course in the Bronx, which prosecutors said he pulled off by inflating his assets. The interest on this penalty began in June 2023, and so far costs Trump around $3.5 million.
Trump now stands to lose about $32 million from interest per year if he does not clear his $355 million disgorgement. That's about $87,500 per day, $1 million every 12 days, or $2.66 million per month.
In a Friday post on X celebrating Engoron's ruling, New York Attorney General Letitia James cited $450 million in penalties and interest.
"Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., Eric Trump, and his former executives must pay over $450 million in disgorgement and interest," she wrote.
Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have each been ordered to pay $4 million in penalties for their involvement in the Old Post Office sale. Based on the 9% per annum rate, the daily interest they face is around $990.
The former president's lawyer, Christopher Kise, told Newsweek on Monday that Trump intends to appeal Engoron's ruling.
Kise said the timing of the appeal "will depend on many factors so it's hard to say at the moment, but in any event, it will fall within the 30-day clock," per Newsweek.
Meanwhile, James said that if Trump does not start paying the $355 million fine, her office will move to seize his assets, such as Trump Tower.
Trump has also been ordered to pay $83.3 million in damages to E. Jean Carroll in her defamation lawsuit against him, as ruled by a federal jury in January.
Additionally, he faces a hush-money case involving Stormy Daniels in Manhattan, charges from the Department of Justice in connection with his handling of sensitive documents, and an election-related racketeering case from Fulton County, Georgia.
The former president spent $53 million in PAC donor money on his legal fees in 2023, Business Insider previously found.
So far, the leading candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, Trump, hopes to retake the White House in the November elections.