Wikipedia
- Donald Trump has reportedly sold one of his personal jets to a Republican donor.
- Trump's Cessna Citation X has changed registration to a Dallas-based real estate entrepreneur.
- The sale of the jet comes as Trump is facing almost $500 million in legal bills.
Donald Trump has seemingly sold one of the planes from his prized fleet of private jets to a Republican donor.
As Business Insider previously reported, on May 13, Trump's 1997 Cessna Jet was deregistered from the Trump Organization's DT Air Corp.
It was then registered to a company called MM Fleet Holdings LLC, based in Dallas, Texas, Federal Aviation Administration records show.
Mehrdad Moayedi, an Iranian-American real estate developer based in Dallas, has been identified by The Daily Beast as the owner of MM Fleet Holdings LLC.
Aside from purchasing the private jet, Moayedi has previously used his earnings to regularly donate to the Republican Party.
From 2019 and 2020, his donations to the Trump campaign totaled $245,000.
In the last five years, he has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to other Republican candidates and organizations, including $50,000 to the Ted Cruz Victory Fund and $34,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Moayedi's new jet, which can accommodate up to nine passengers, was regularly seen along Trump's campaign trail in 2020 as its smaller size allowed it to fly into smaller airports.
The plane's tail number, DT725, features a pair of personal details, with the 725 referencing the New York City address of Trump Tower, which sits at 725 Fifth Avenue, and the "DT" symbolizing Trump's initials.
Gene J. Puska/AP
Now, the presidential candidate will have to turn to the rest of his multimillion-dollar fleet, such as the famous Boeing 757 private jet known as "Trump Force One."
It is not known how much the Cessna jet was sold for, but the model is estimated to cost around $10 million, according to private jet broker evoJets.
It's not enough to make a significant dent in the $454 million fine Trump was ordered to pay by New York Court in March. The court found that the former president had committed fraud by overstating the value of his assets by more than $350 million.
Trump has also been ordered to pay $83.3 million to writer E. Jean Carroll for defaming her during a civil trial involving sexual assault allegations. He has secured a bond to stop her from collecting the payment while he appeals the verdict.