Former President Donald Trump is on trial in New York in a $250 million lawsuit that could upset the personal fortune and real estate empire that helped propel Trump to the White House.
Trump, his sons Eric and Don Jr. and Trump Organization executives are accused through New York Attorney General Letitia James of participating in a decade-long scheme in which they used “numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation” to inflate Trump’s net worth in order to offload higher loan terms. The lawsuit comes after the ruling on the merits of the case was based on a partial abstract ruling that Trump had filed “fraudulent valuations” of his assets, leaving the trial to what new moves and what punishment, if any, the defendants deserve to receive.
The former president has denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyers have argued that Trump’s allegedly inflated valuations were a product of his skills.
After court wrangling over communications between him and his attorney, Judge Arthur Engoron modified his limited gag order to protect lawyers in former President Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial.
“Defendants may refer to my team as fit to ask questions about scheduling or test control issues, which are an integral component of their work. What they can’t do is make additional statements about internal and confidential communications (whether it’s conversations, passing notes, or something similar) between me and my staff,” Engoron wrote in his extra-limited gag order Friday.
Engoron wrote that defense attorneys Chris Kise, Alina Habba and Robert Clifford made “repeated and inappropriate comments about my lead counsel, falsely accusing him of bias against him and unduly influencing the ongoing trial. “
Lawyers made several arguments during the trial that Engoron and his secretary were passing notes to each other indicating wrongdoing and distracting. In the future, if the lawyers wish to object to communications with their secretary, Engoron said they would refer to the order as a “blanket order. “statement. “
“This gag order is tailored as possible to accomplish its purpose, which is to protect the protection of my staff and promote the orderly conduct of this trial,” Engoron said.
To justify the security threat, Engoron added that his company had gained “hundreds of phone calls, voicemails, emails, letters and packages of harassment and threats” since the trial began.
The court rules on threats of “severe penalties” for violating the extended order.
Standing in the hallway of the courthouse where his father had filed his civil lawsuit, Eric Trump echoed his father’s attacks on the New York lawyer and opposing lawsuits against his family, after the court adjourned the day’s session.
“We have an amazing business. We own some of the world’s assets. We’ve never had a default. We’ve never stopped paying,” Trump said of the Trump Organization.
Like his father, he described the case as politically motivated and denounced his family’s involvement.
“They dragged Don, Ivanka and I there as collateral damage,” he said.
Later, speaking to reporters on the steps of the courthouse, he said the state’s efforts will be directed elsewhere.
“Let’s get the killers off the streets. Let’s face crime. Let’s rebuild our infrastructure. Anywhere you drive in New York, you find a pothole and your vehicle is destroyed,” he said.
Judge Engoron adjourned the session until Monday, when the state plans to call former President Trump to the stand.
“Are we going to meet Monday at 10 a. m. and the first witness will be. . . ?” Engoron asked prosecutor Andrew Amer.
“The witness will be Donald J. Trump,” Amer said.
Eric Trump resigned from the witness stand after facing an hour from prosecutor Andrew Amer.
Amer concluded his cross-examination by asking Eric Trump about the $2 million severance agreement between the Trump Organization and its former chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg.
“Were you involved in the industrial agreement to reach this trade agreement with Mr. Weisselberg?” asked Amer.
“Yes,” Trump said.
“Did your father ask you to make this deal with Mr. Weisselberg?”Amer.
“No, he didn’t,” Trump responded. He reiterated, “I’ve come to this with Mr. Weisselberg. “
Pressed on the price of Trump’s assets at Mar-A-Lago, Eric Trump denied knowing that the club taxed assets used as a social club as advertising assets.
“It’s very transparent that Mar-a-Lago is not a club, it’s a personal residence. I don’t see anything with that, 100 percent,” Trump said.
Previous testimony and documents have shown that, assets are limited by a deed to the use of a club, Donald Trump continued to overvalue the assets as if they could simply be sold as a personal residence. Judge Engoron had already found that the club was overvalued by as much as 2,300%.
“Mar-a-Lago is a product that can be sold to an individual,” Trump said.
David McArdle, Director of Cushman
Signing a conservation easement would allow the Trump Organization to waive its rights of progression and treat the asset difference as a charitable donation, according to the New York attorney general.
By relinquishing the right to expand the 71 residential units, McArdle estimated the donation to be worth $43 million, according to an April 2014 valuation. A subsequent valuation conducted through McArdle in 2015 resulted in a valuation of $45. 2 million.
But Trump’s money returns from those years seem to forget about valuations, valuing land in the undeveloped complexes at $101 million, according to documents submitted as evidence.
“Based on the supporting data, the only source of accrual of units and benefits is consistent with the units’ telephone conversations with Eric Trump,” the New York attorney general said in his complaint.
McArdle also testified that he consulted to set the price of Seven Springs, a New York property that Trump bought for $7. 5 million in 1995.
To evaluate the property, which could be subdivided into 24 to 26 residential lots, McArdle testified that he visited the site, consulted with a local expert and spoke with Trump on several occasions.
“He had a very positive opinion of the property, which didn’t surprise me,” McArdle said.
In the end, his assessment convinced us that the total price of the masses in 2014 was between $30 million and $50 million, McArdle said.
But New York’s attorney general says the valuation was ignored in Trump’s 2014 money returns, in favor of a “false and misleading” price of $161 million for a share of the undeveloped lots.