Michael Cohen: Donald Trump Inflated Worth by $4 Billion in Attempt to Buy Bills

In his unsuccessful attempt to purchase the Buffalo Bills in 2014, President Donald Trump allegedly added a few billion to his personal net worth.

According to the Buffalo News' Jerry Zremski, Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen testified in a filing to a United States congressional committee that Trump told Deutsche Bank he had a net worth of $8.66 billion. Trump was attempting to secure a loan to buy the Bills:

"Those documents show Trump with a net worth of $4.26 billion as of June 30, 2011, and $4.56 billion a year later. But the third financial report, dated March 31, 2013, showed Trump's net worth as $8.66 billion.

"A close examination of those documents shows just one big difference in Trump's 2013 financial filing. That document included $4 billion in 'brand value' as part of Trump's net worth, while the earlier financial documents didn't include any 'brand value' at all."

Cohen added that Trump "inflated his total assets when it served his purposes" and would then diminish his total worth so as to lower the real estate taxes he'd owe.

NFL owners formally approved of the Bills' sale to Kim and Terry Pegula in October 2014. The Pegulas paid the estate of Ralph Wilson $1.4 billion, which at the time was the record price for an NFL franchise. David Tepper spent $2.275 billion to buy the Carolina Panthers in July 2018.

Not surprisingly, Trump issued a series of tweets in which he expressed his frustration at failing to buy the Bills at the time:

Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan told USA Today's Jarrett Bell in October 2017 that Trump's continued animus toward the NFL—he has been particularly critical of the league's player protest movement—stems partly from his failure to own an NFL team.