Truth Social Hurts! Donald Trump Exits Forbes Top 400 Richest Americans List For A Shocking Reason

Donald Trump has fallen off the Forbes list of the top 400 wealthiest Americans for the third time. 

The former U.S. president lost a considerable chunk of his net worth to his Truth Social app. Trump fell off the list in 1990 and again in 2021 but returned stronger each time.

He just started a civil fraud trial in New York over fraudulent financial statements for his company. It's just one of his many upcoming criminal and civil litigation cases, including defamation, conspiracy, and perjury charges. 

Forbes has confirmed that Donald Trump has fallen off its top 400 Richest Americans list. The former U.S. president now has an estimated net worth of $2.6 billion from over $3.5 billion in 2022. The publication explained the reasons for its dip in the estimation of Trump's net worth.

According to Forbes, the major issue was Trump's heavy investment in Truth Social, his own social media platform. They noted that the app failed to take off and generate significant interest amongst active social media users. The businessman holds a 90% stake in Truth Social, which has plummeted from over $700 million to below $100 million.

They also credited the fall with the depreciating value of several of Trump's office buildings on the market. The depreciation was caused by the heavy shift towards remote work and the increase in residents fleeing major cities like San Francisco.

This isn't the first time Trump has fallen off the Forbes 400 list. The first time was while he still shared a spot on the inaugural 1982 list with his father, Fred Trump. When Trump eventually filed for bankruptcy years later, he fell off the list again in 1990.

At the time, Forbes exposed that the businessman had taken and wasted massive loans and built his empire on debts, and now had a net worth "within hailing distance of zero." Trump dropped out of the famous list again in 2021, after his troubled exit from the White House and one year of battling the COVID-19 pandemic.

Each time Trump has fallen off the list, he's come back with a stronger net worth. When he regained his spot last year, Forbes placed him at No. 343 with a $3.2 billion net worth. This was after Trump made several heavy real estate sales and business ventures for his Trump corporation.

Trump's net worth decline is not affected by his civil fraud trial, which began in New York earlier this week. The fraud trial is against the former president, his adult sons, his Trump corporation, and his sons' companies. 

The trial began after Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that Trump and all the co-defendants should answer for "persistent and repeated" fraud. The case is being handled by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who started fighting the $250 million lawsuit last year. She's fighting to prove that Trump severally inflated company assets on financial statements to get better loan and insurance terms.

According to James, Trump committed persistent fraud by inflating his net worth by over $3 billion between 2011 and 2021. The former president's attorneys have denied the charges severally and argued that evaluating company assets is a highly subjective process and there was no fraud intent.

Trump has made his intentions to campaign for a second presidential term clear to the world, but he still has more lawsuits to face. He has several criminal and civil litigation cases coming up, including four criminal indictments and multiple conspiracy and forgery charges.

Earlier this year, Trump's legal team applied to the court to delay his civil fraud trial, but James argued that any delays would significantly affect the trial schedule of his upcoming cases. The court agreed with the DA and ruled for things to continue as scheduled.

Trump and writer E. Jean Carroll are scheduled to meet in court again in January 2024, as he was found liable in a second defamation case. The two had a similar lawsuit in 2022, where a jury found Trump liable for defamation. In their upcoming case, the former president has the right to waive his appearance at the trial.

The former president is also expected to begin a federal election interference case against him by special counsel Jack Smith on March 4, 2024.