Trump Increases Mar-a-Lago Value Hours After Judge Rules Against Him

Former President Donald Trump bumped up the worth of Mar-a-Lago in the wake of a new court ruling that accused him of inflating the value of his Florida property, claiming that it was "100 times" the amount that a judge said it was in the fraud case concerning him, his sons and the Trump organization.

In a Tuesday order, New York Judge Arthur Engoron agreed with prosecutors that the defendants overvalued their properties by more than $400 million and found that "A discrepancy of this order of magnitude, by a real estate developer sizing up his own living space of decades, can only be considered fraud."

The ruling sparked outrage from the Trump family, who have accused Engoron of launching a "radical attack" that was politically motivated. The former president himself used the valuation as an "example" of his claims, writing on Truth Social that "this Democrat Operative valued Mar-a-Lago, the most spectacular and valuable property in Palm Beach, Florida, to be worth as low as $18 million, when in actuality, it could be worth almost 100 times that amount."

During his April 2022 testimony, Trump told prosecutors that Mar-a-Lago is worth $1.5 billion based on "broker talk," explaining that he's never put the property up for sale.

Another reason that Trump believes his property is worth significantly more than what the Palm Beach County assessor appraised it at—between $18 million and $27.6 million—could be due to a disclaimer on property appraisals that Trump's attorney Chris Kise told Newsweek the legal team tried to challenge.

"The governing accounting standards also did not require reliance on that appraisal or any other," Kise said.

According to the Palm Beach County website, "The estimate of Total Market Value is for tax assessment purposes only and takes into consideration each of the factors enumerated in Section 193.011F.S. The Total Market Value estimate may be less than the actual market value of the property."

Under the Florida statute, in assessments, property appraisers are required to factor in the present cash value of the property; the highest and best use of the property, which includes judicial limitations, land use regulations, historic preservation ordinance and zoning changes; property location, property size, property and future replacement costs, condition of the property, income from the property and net proceeds of the sale of the property.

"Mar-a-Lago is speculated to be worth well over a billion dollars making it arguably the most valuable residential property in the country. It is all so corrupt and coordinated," the former president's son, Eric Trump wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

The younger Trump also posted a listing of other Palm Beach properties with values of over $35 million, saying, "These homes are about 1/30 the size of Mar-a-Lago, not on the beach (let alone the beach and intercostal), don't span from one side of the Palm Beach Island to the other...it is a travesty of justice and embarrassment to the court."

Kise echoed those remarks, saying that it is "patently absurd" to value Mar-a-Lago at $18 million to $27 million given the prices for a single vacant or undeveloped acre of a beachfront lot in Palm Beach, which is valued by Property Shark as being worth several million.

"Mar-a-Lago is 17+ acres," Kise said.

Trump himself also fought back on the valuations during his testimony.

Speaking of his financial statements, the former president said, "When you open it up, the first thing you see and the first thing you read is this clause that goes on to tell you that—that you shouldn't rely on the statement."

"Remember you have a disclaimer clause that everything we're saying is supposed to go out and get your own appraisal," he added. "You're supposed to do—you're supposed to pay no credence to what we say whatsoever. So [that's] why it's very unfair."