Trump’s financial disclosure shows millions made from licensing deals but costly civil judgments

By Casey Tolan, David Wright, Steve Contorno, Fredreka Schouten and Jeremy Herb, CNN

(CNN) — Donald Trump’s latest financial disclosure documents released Thursday show he made millions from licensing deals and book royalties capitalizing on his fame, alongside significant civil judgements against the former president in New York.

The disclosure, which totaled more than 250 pages, offers a window into the president’s extensive finances, including everything from his real estate business to his investments, income and debts. The release from the Federal Election Commission marks the first public update of his finances in a year.

The documents are a reminder of Trump’s business interests all across the globe – including dozens of registered trademarks in China as well as ones in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ukraine and Israel, among many others. It also reveals tidbits about how the president keeps his fortune, from millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency to a six-figure investment in gold bars.

Trump has consistently bucked the tradition among major party candidates of releasing his tax returns to the public, and the financial disclosure reports offer an incomplete picture because filers are only required to disclose income and assets in broad ranges.

CNN has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.

The financial disclosure lists liabilities in excess of more than $50 million owed to both E. Jean Carroll and the New York attorney general. The liabilities are described as “litigation; stayed pending appeal; bonded.” A New York judge ordered Trump to pay $454 million in a February civil fraud case, while a federal jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million in damages for a defamation case in January. Trump has posted bonds for both judgements while he appeals the decisions.

Meanwhile, the largest segment of Trump’s net worth, at least on paper, is his ownership share of Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of the Truth Social social media network, according to research by Forbes. In the disclosure, Trump reported owning nearly 115 million shares of the company’s common stock – which would be worth about $2.7 billion at the current price of $23.57. The disclosure notes that Trump agreed to a lock-up period preventing him from selling shares for six months after the company went public in March 2024.

Trump reported earning more than $12 million through licensing and royalty deals from two LLCs he owns, including about $7.2 million as part of a “license agreement with NFT INT, LLC,” the company that is selling digital NFT “trading cards” featuring the former president. That figure is up from the roughly $300,000 he reported receiving as part of that agreement in his previous disclosure filed a year ago.

Trump reported making more than $5 million through CIC Ventures LLC, largely in royalties from his books “Letters to Trump” and “Our Journey Together.” He also reported making $300,000 from “The Greenwood Bible,” a venture associated with country singer Lee Greenwood.

The disclosures don’t report any income yet from the Trump Sneakers line he started promoting in February, which is also connected to CIC Ventures LLC.

Trump also owns between $1 and $5 million in the cryptocurrency ethereum, according to the documents. It’s unclear if he has increased his past position in the cryptocurrency or if the jump in value reflects the recent surge in the price of ethereum. But his continued position in digital money comes as Trump is vowing to usher in a wave of pro-cryptocurrency policies if elected and as his family business plots a move into the emerging industry.

“I have truly fallen in love with Crypto,” his son, Eric Trump, who now leads the Trump Organization, recently wrote on X.

One of Trump’s largest sources of income was revenue from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. He reported making about $57 million in income from the club, down from about $65 million reported in the previous disclosure.

Trump reported dissolving dozens of business entities in 2023, including three companies related to China – THC China Development LLC, THC China Technical Services LLC, and THC China Technical Services Manager Corp. Those appear to be tied to real estate projects Trump was exploring in the country before he became president, according to New York Times reporting from 2020. His disclosure reported that he still owns dozens of trademarks in China.

The documents show that Trump paid off a loan in October 2023 to Deutsche Bank between $25 million and $50 million for a mortgage on his Chicago Trump International Hotel. That month, the former president’s civil fraud trial began, in which the judge found that Trump inflated the value of his assets on his financial statements in order to get more favorable loan rates from Deutsche Bank and others.

The filings also show income earned by former first lady Melania Trump. She took in $237,500 for a speaking engagement in April of this year with the Log Cabin Republicans in Palm Beach, Florida. CNN previously reported that Trump attended a fundraiser for the conservative LGBTQ group held at Mar-a-Lago.

She also earned more than $330,000 for a licensing agreement for the sale of digital trading cards or NFTs. She began launching digital products in 2021 after her husband left the White House. Recent offerings have included a 1776 collection and one – with an artist’s rendering of her face – in honor of Women’s History Month.

In April, the White House released the tax returns for Vice President Kamala Harris – the Democratic presidential nominee – and second gentleman Doug Emhoff, showing that the couple made $450,299 in 2023. Her most recent financial disclosure, from May, is only 16 pages long.

Asked about Trump’s tax returns in April after Biden released his, Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt asserted that Trump had “released more information to the American public about his personal finances than any candidate in history,” adding that his taxes were “illegally leaked” to the New York Times and his business had been the subject of a civil case.

In December 2022, Democrats in Congress released six years of Trump’s federal tax returns.

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

CNN’s Katelyn Polantz contributed to this story.

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