SACRAMENTO—According to a July 25 report by Jennifer Van Laar with Redstate, 3 months after California Governor Gavin Newsom was gifted his $3.7 million estate in Fair Oaks, he received a $2.695 million tax-free cash out.
The 12,000 square foot mansion was built on 8-plus acres of land beside the American River in Sacramento.
The home, which is considered the most expensive property sale in the area in 2018, has six bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, a guest house, a pool, a tennis court, and a wine cave.
Nathan Click Newsom’s spokesman told The Sacramento Bee the Fair Oaks home is “more kid-friendly,” for Newsom’s four children, all under the age of 10. “They will move their four kids, two dogs and bunny rabbit in a few months and open up the magnificently-renovated historic Governor’s Mansion for public events and state business.”
The estate was gifted to the Newsoms in 2019, has raised questions about the governor’s tax filings and financial disclosure forms.
An LLC operated by Newsom’s cousin Jeremy Scherer, the co-president of PlumpJack and longtime business partner, paid cash for the home in December 2018. Scherer’s LLC later gifted the home to the Newsom family for free in October 2019.
He was claimed as a member of the LLC in October 2019 and did not have to pay the standard $4,000 tax for a money transfer of that size.
A few months after receiving the estate from the LLC, Newsom took out a $2.695 million cash-out mortgage on the home. Neither the gift or Newsom’s financial disclosures were mentioned on the mortgage form, which exceeds the $500 limit. Reverse mortgage payments are not considered taxable income.
California laws prohibit state and local organizations from publishing the addresses of elected officials on their personal documents, such as property tax records.
Governor Newsom’s filings first came under fire for not properly reporting his assets in 2003, while serving as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. It was suspected he had failed to report more than $11 million in real estate and business loans over a period of four years.
