GLASS HOUSES!
Don critic Stewart 'overvalued.' too
Comedian Jon Stewart ranted this week that Donald Trump’s civil real estate case overvaluing his properties was “not victimless,” yet when it came to his own home, Stewart benefited from a similar inflation.
On “The Daily Show” Monday, Stewart, 61, unpacked Trump’s $454 million appeal bond, calling out experts framing the ex-president’s New York civil case as not causing direct harm to any individual.
Stewart argued that “money isn’t infinite. A loan that goes to the liar doesn’t go to someone who’s giving a more honest evaluation. So the system becomes incentivized for corruption.”He contended that failing to declare a higher market value on a property while paying taxes based on a lower assessed value constitutes fraudulent behavior.
“The attorney general of New York knew that Trump’s property values were inflated because when it came time to pay taxes,
Trump undervalued the very same properties,” Stewart added. “It was all part of a very specific real estate practice known as lying.”
Jon’s Tribeca sale
But Stewart’s own city penthouse sold for 829% more than its assessed value, records confirmed by The Post reveal.
In 2014, Stewart sold his 6,280square-foot Tribeca duplex to financier Parag Pande for $17.5 million. The property’s asking price at that time is not available in listing records.
But according to 2013-2014 assessor records obtained by The Post, the property had the estimated market value at only $1.882 million. The actual assessor valuation was even lower, at $847,174. Records also show Stewart paid significantly lower property taxes, which were calculated based on that assessor valuation price — precisely what he called Trump out for doing. Pande, who purchased the penthouse from Stewart, then resold the property at a nearly 26% loss, according to the Real Deal — at just over $13 million — in 2021. Political commentator Timothy Pool said Stewart was being a hypocrite.
“Did @jonstewart commit fraud when he sold his penthouse for $17.5M? NY listed its market value at $1.8M an AV at around 800k... Who did he defraud?? I am SHOCKED,” he wrote.
Same benefit as Don
The New York assessor valuation on Stewart’s former penthouse is the exact same citation method and metric that state General Letitia James used to value Trump’s private and personal properties, and then sued him for inflating those assets.
This includes Trump’s Mar-aLago estate in Palm Beach, known as his main residence, which was assessed at only $18 million at the time. Real estate brokers had valued the property at 50 times more than that amount.
The difference between Stewart’s and Trump’s cases is Trump also sometimes lied to lenders about how big his properties were, including the square footage of his Trump Tower apartment.