Jon Stewart accused of overvaluing home by 829% days after criticising Donald Trump for doing the same

jon stewart donald trump

Jon Stewart has been accused of “hypocrisy” after allegations emerged that he overvalued his New York home by 829 per cent when it was sold in 2014.

The criticism comes days after the comedian skewered Donald Trump after the former US president claimed his multi-million dollar fraud was a “victimless crime”.

A judge has ordered Trump to pay $464m (£367m) over a decade-long scheme in which prosecutors alleged he falsely inflated the values of Trump Organisation assets to obtain loans.

“It was all part of a very sophisticated real estate practice known as ‘lying’,” Stewart joked on The Daily Show on Monday (25 March). “Because they are not victimless crimes.”

However, 2013-2014 assessor documents seen by the New York Post appear to show Stewart’s 6,280 square-foot Tribeca duplex apartment was estimated to be worth $1.88m at the time he sold it for a significantly higher price.

Parag Pande bought the home for $17.5m, selling it at a nearly 26 per cent loss for $13m in 2021.

The property’s asking price at that time is not available in listing records.

According to The Post, the assessor valuation was came in even lower at $847, 174. The publication reports that Stewart appears to have paid significantly lower property taxes that were calculated based on this assessor valuation price – which is the exact practice that Stewart recently called Trump out for during his show.

Stewart had argued: “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 incentivised for corruption.”

“And the only immoral practice, apparently, in the capitalist system is to use that money for people who may need it,” he said, showing clips of occasions in which US citizens have been the centre of news stories for “abusing the system” to feed their family and using food stamps.

Based on that logic, Stewart argued: “Stealing is only justified when you already have too much.”

One-term president, Trump, was initially ordered to pay the multi-million fraud bond by Monday. A panel of state Appellate Division judges, however, unexpectedly granted him a 10-day extension to pay $175m (£138m) of the total $464m (£367m) judgment.

The Independent have approached Jon Stewart’s representatives for comment.

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