How Donald Trump Can Quietly Transfer His Money Without Setting Off Alarms

Former President Donald Trump is barred from transferring his assets amid his civil fraud trial in New York, but some of his transactions can still go undetected.

The financial watchdog in the case informed the court on Wednesday that although Trump and the Trump Organization continues to generally operate in compliance with court orders, there had been some violations that totaled to about $40 million in previously unreported transfers.

Trump attorney Chris Kise told Newsweek that despite those violations, the defendants—which include Trump, his company and his two eldest sons, Donald Jr. and Eric—have continued to cooperate with Jones' work and that nothing in her update suggests the defendants have made any suspicious transfers.

"As before, the report confirms the defendants continue to cooperate with the monitor and remain in compliance with the court order. Also as before, the report contains no mention of suspicious activity or suspected or actual fraud, because none exists," Kise said.

In October, Judge Arthur Engoron ordered all defendants in the case to provide the court with a list of all the entities they currently own and to what extent any third party may have an ownership or interest in those entities. The ruling also required the defendants to provide advance notice for "the creation of a new entity" and "any anticipated transfer of assets or liabilities to any other entities."

Former federal prosecutor and elected state attorney Michael McAuliffe told Newsweek that although the report lays out the ongoing failures of the defendants to comply with the disclosure requirements, including the threshold amounts, it remains difficult to tell from the outside whether those violations reflect "a very loose disclosure approach or a pattern of hiding transactions."

"My team requested and conducted a review of bank statements for 12 bank accounts maintained by the Trust from January 2023 through October 2023," Barbara Jones, a retired federal judge who was appointed to monitor the financial activity of the defendants, told Engoron in a letter updating him on her work. "Upon review of these bank statements, we observed three cash transfers exceeding $5 million each, totaling approximately $40 million."

But, according to Jones' letter, only transfers exceeding $5 million were to be notified to the court, meaning the former president could have still moved assets under the $5 million threshold without raising any alarms. Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Newsweek that because there's no specific threshold under the law, the $5 million number was set by Engoron.

"It's more a disclosure issue than preventing the transfers outright, so retired Judge Jones can monitor the financial activity," Rahmani explained.

He added that he was more concerned by Trump's violation of the reinstated gag order.

"The question is, will Engoron start enforcing these orders? Or will he continue to ignore violations of the transfer and gag orders by doing nothing or imposing minor fines?" Rahmani asked. "Orders mean nothing if they aren't enforced."

Jones' team requested and reviewed financial information in connection with the Trump Organization's license to operate Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point, a loan payoff for its hotel in Chicago, a conservation easement tax filing for Trump National Doral Miami and its social media platform Truth Social. She said in her review she was able to confirm that $29 million of the $40 million was used for tax payments, while the remaining funds were for insurance premiums and to an attorney escrow account.

Jones said she had discussed with Trump and his team about why the transactions had not been previously disclosed and clarified that all transfers exceeding the threshold would need to be reported to her. She noted that defendants "acknowledged that their exclusion [of the transactions] was an oversight."

"Defendants have agreed to enhanced monitoring given the matters described in this report," Jones wrote. "Defendants continue to cooperate with me and are generally in compliance with the Court's orders, and have committed to ensure that all required information, including tax information and cash transfers, are promptly disclosed to the Monitor."

"My review of the Defendants' submissions of financial information is ongoing and I appreciate the parties' cooperation," she said.

McAuliffe noted that it does appear as though Jones is doing her job well and it will be likely for Engoron to defer to her assessment that Trump and his company are acting in good faith and committed to complying with the disclosure requirements moving forward.

Newsweek reached out to Jones and via email for comment.

Trump is set to testify in his defense later this month as the defense's last witness on December 11, Kise said in court on Monday. Both of his sons have already testified in the case and Eric is scheduled to return to the stand on December 6.