When Letitia James brought her fraud case against Donald Trump, she told a judge that Mar-a-Lago — a 17-acre oceanfront estate in the most expensive zip code in America — was worth $18 million. Forbes just put out a number that makes that look even more absurd than we already knew it to be.
When James brought her case against Trump, she had the property valued at about $18 million, and the presiding judge, Arthur Engoron, went along with the charade.
A Forbes report just blew that entire narrative right out of the water, according to the New York Post.
At the heart of the fraud case against Trump was the value New York Attorney General Letitia James assigned to Mar-a-Lago.
James latched onto a tax assessment of $18 million to put her price tag on the home, but a simple search of properties in the area would have proven that price tag to be ludicrous.
According to a BBC report at the time, Trump stated, "They claimed that Mar-a-Lago was worth only $18,000,000, when it was worth 50 to 100 times that amount.”
Trump claimed the value of the property was between $426.5 million and $612 million, which Judge Engoron stated was “an overvaluation of at least 2,300%, compared to the assessor's appraisal.”
Trump lost the case in what seemed like a loaded trial.
Engoron had clearly pre-judged Trump's guilt, issuing a partial summary judgment before hearing any real argument from Trump's side.
As the case went through the appeals process, the $500 million judgment (which included interest) against Trump was tossed by the court, citing the Eighth Amendment, deeming it to be an “excessive fine.” The verdict, however, remained intact.
After ripping James on Truth Social, CNBC reported that Trump has posted, “I greatly respect the fact that the Court had the Courage to throw out this unlawful and disgraceful Decision that was hurting Business all throughout New York State.”
The New York Post just released a column by its editorial board that Forbes has issued a report, estimating the value of the club at $556 million (although no link to the report was posted). However, I have surmised that the claim comes from the publication’s 2026 Billionaires List, which cites assets.
The report claimed, “Forbes just estimated the value of Mar-a-Lago at about $560 million, again exposing the fakery in New York state Attorney General Tish James’ 2023 civil fraud persecution of President Trump.”
This is a problem for James, who has been under fire for having run a campaign based on taking Trump down and politically targeting him. Any due diligence would have proven her case wrong.
But this is also bad news for Judge Engoron, who bought into the fraudulent assessment right from the outset. Trump has not yet commented on the Forbes report, but I would imagine Truth Social will be blowing up soon enough.
