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A GoFundMe set up to pay for Donald Trump's civil fraud fine has hit almost $1 million, six days after its launch.
On Friday, Elena Cardone, the wife of real estate businessman Grant Cardone, made the GoFundMe page titled "Stand with Trump; Fund the $355M Unjust Judgment" following Judge Arthur Engoron's ruling the same day that Trump will have to pay roughly $355 million in penalties for fraud.
At the time of writing on Thursday afternoon, it has received $939,000 in donations, just over $60,000 short of $1 million.
Newsweek contacted representatives for Trump by email to comment on this story.
The New York court held that Trump and top executives at The Trump Organization committed fraud by inflating the value of his assets to obtain more favorable terms from lenders and insurers. New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the lawsuit, said that with pre-judgment interest the penalty totals over $450 million—an amount "which will continue to increase every single day" until the judgment is paid.
Trump's lawyers said they would appeal the judgement.
While it has raised a lot of money, speaking to Newsweek, Scott Lucas, a professor in international politics at University College Dublin, said that the GoFundMe was "more symbolic than substantive."
He added: "Trump's penalty for fraud in the civil case is, with interest included, going to run to more than $450 million so $1 million is very much a drop in the punishment bucket in terms of what he's facing and of course that's on top of the $83.3 million that his been awarded to E. Jean Carroll over his sexual assault and defamation of her.
"What the significance of the GoFundMe is more that the Trump camp whipping this up as 'oh look, look, look, look at all these people that support our president in terms of this unjust persecution by the justice system and the deep state' and that's how it will be spun.
"Certainly people who donate to the fund probably very much believe in the cause that they're supporting and that's fair enough but this is more a political manipulation during an election year rather than anything which is fundamentally related to the question of whether Trump will be able to or when he will actually pay this record penalty."
As per Engoron's ruling, Trump, Allen Weisselberg and Jeffrey McConney will be barred from serving as officers or directors of any New York corporation or other legal entity in the state for three years. Donald Jr. and Eric Trump were ordered to each pay more than $4 million and were banned from doing business in the state for two years.
Lucas added that regardless of the money raised, as the GoFundMe won't be able to restore Trump's ability to do business in New York, the Trump Organization is "in a spot of bother."
Meanwhile, the legitimacy of the GoFundMe has been questioned following reports the platforms' director of public affairs, Jalen Drummond, formerly worked for Trump in his press team. Newsweek contacted Drummond by email to comment.
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About the writer
Kate Plummer is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on U.S. politics and national affairs, and ... Read more