On Feb. 16, a New York state judge ruled that former President Donald Trump has to pay $355 million after a state civil fraud case determined Trump lied about his wealth in his business transactions.
A couple named Elena and Grant Cardone created a $355 million GoFundMe fundraiser intending to pay for Trump’s penalty. Several people replied to Grant Cardone’s X post promoting the fundraiser with claims that the fundraiser violates GoFundMe’s rules.
THE QUESTION
Does a $355 million fundraiser to pay for Trump’s civil penalty violate GoFundMe’s rules?
THE SOURCES
THE ANSWER
No, a $355 million fundraiser to pay for Trump’s civil penalty does not violate GoFundMe’s rules.
WHAT WE FOUND
On Feb. 16, after Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that former President Donald Trump would have to pay $355 million in penalties for lying about his wealth in business transactions, a Florida couple named Elena and Grant Cardone launched a GoFundMe a fundraiser called “Stand with Trump; Fund the $355M Unjust Judgment.”
The fundraiser’s description does not explain how the donations would get to Trump or otherwise pay for his penalties. As of Feb. 20, 2024, the fundraiser has raised over $700,000.
GoFundMe is a popular crowdfunding website which has rules for which fundraisers are allowed and how they have to be run.
Those rules, listed on the website’s terms of service page, tell fundraisers not to use GoFundMe to raise money for “the legal defense of alleged financial and violent crimes.”
This is the same rule people on X referenced when claiming the fundraiser violated the website’s rules.
However, that rule wouldn't apply to this fundraiser. That’s because the fundraiser is for a civil suit, not a criminal case, and because it’s raising money to pay a penalty, not a legal defense.
According to court documents, the initial complaint that prompted the New York trial and eventual ruling was a civil action.
Civil cases don’t attempt to determine the innocence or guilt of an offender, according to the National Center for Victims of Crime. Instead, civil cases attempt to determine whether someone is liable for the injuries sustained as a result of wrongdoing.
Engoron noted in his ruling that for civil cases like Trump’s “there is no need to prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt.” Instead, the judge approached the case with the same evidence standard as in all civil cases: a preponderance of the evidence.
The judge’s decision ends with orders detailing how much money Trump and other defendants are liable for. This is the fine they are being punished with after the resolution of the legal case.
So the fundraiser isn’t attempting to pay $355 million in legal fees. It’s attempting to pay $355 million in fines.
Jalen Drummond, GoFundMe’s director of public affairs, told VERIFY that “this fundraiser is currently within our terms of service.”
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