Donald Trump signed a document 30 years ago it indicated the true size of its penthouse in New York, which was then listed as much larger on financial statements, according to evidence Tuesday in the former president’s civil business fraud trial.
The evidence appeared in an email attachment shown when Allen Weisselbergformer chief financial officer of Trump’s company, testified at the demand for fraud by New York Attorney General Letitia James against Trump and his Trump Organization. Trump denies wrongdoing.
The attached document was a 1994 document, signed by Trump, that pegged their Trump Tower triplex at 10,996 square feet, not the 30,000 square feet they later claimed for years in financial statements given to banks, insurers and others to close deals. and obtain loans.
Weisselberg said he remembered seeing the email but not the attachment, explaining that the attachments were documents he already had on file at the company’s offices. But in any case, he said, he didn’t pay much attention to the size of the apartment because its value equaled a fraction of Trump’s wealth.
“I didn’t even think about the apartment. In my opinion, it was de minimis,” Weisselberg said, using a Latin term that means, essentially, too small to worry about.
“It wasn’t something that was that important to me when we were looking at a net worth of $6 billion or $5 billion,” said Weisselberg, whose questioning will resume after a former bank official testifies Wednesday.
Weisselberg was later asked about an appraisal that was $230 million lower than what Trump’s financial statements showed for his property in Seven Springs north of New York City. Weisselberg said he was aware of the valuation, but that he did not believe it was worth pointing out the disparity to the outside accountants who prepared the returns.
However, Weisselberg acknowledged that the signing of documents certifying that financial statements provided to banks to meet loan requirements were “true, correct, and completely and fairly” represented Trump’s financial situation.
Weisselberg repeatedly said he did not remember whether he discussed the financial statements with Trump as they were being finalized. The former CFO said he reviewed drafts “from a 30,000-foot level” but paid special attention to something “very important” to Trump: descriptions of his properties.
“It was kind of a marketing piece for the banks to read about our properties, how well they’re taken care of, that they’re first-class properties,” Weisselberg said, adding that Trump analyzed the language used in such descriptions.
“He might say, ‘Don’t use the word ‘beautiful,’ use the word ‘gorgeous,’ or something like that,” Weisselberg testified.
Meanwhile, in Trump’s Washington election interference case, prosecutors on Tuesday urged the judge to protect the identities of potential jurors, citing the former president’s “continued use of social media as a weapon of intimidation in judicial procedures.” Trump’s lawyer, John Lauro, declined to comment.
In that federal criminal case, Trump pleaded not guilty to illegally conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
In New York, Weisselberg said Tuesday that he learned of the Trump Tower penthouse size discrepancy only when a Forbes magazine reporter pointed it out to him in 2016. He testified that he initially questioned the magazine’s conclusions, but said he He did not remember if he had directed anyone to investigate the matter.
“Don’t you remember if you did anything to confirm who was right?” asked State’s Attorney Louis Solomon.
Weisselberg said no.
While Forbes was focusing on the apartment size issue in 2017, emails show, a company spokesperson told another Trump executive that Weisselberg said they should not get involved in the issue. A week later, Trump’s 2016 financial statement was released, using the incorrect square footage.
Over the years, Trump Organization executives had greatly increased your estimate of the value of the apartment for reasons ranging from the boss’s fame to comparing it to the asking price of another triplex, although that other one ultimately sold for 60% less, another former executive testified last week.
When The Wall Street Journal wrote about the listing of a $135 million property near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida in 2018, Weisselberg wrote a note telling an employee to keep the article and “see what price it ends up selling for.”
When asked Tuesday to explain, Weisselberg testified: “Anyone can order anything for any amount of dollars. That doesn’t mean it’s going to be sold.”
Weisselberg, who testified as a prosecution witness, is also a defendant in the lawsuit. He took the stand after a recent stint in prison for evade income taxes which he earned while working for Trump.
James’ suit alleges that Weisselberg crafted Trump’s financial statements to meet his demands that they show increases in his net worth and approved high asset valuations despite valuations to the contrary.
Trump attended the first three days ofbench trial last week, but has not returned since.
Weisselberg was released from a New York City jail six months ago after serving 100 days for evading taxes on $1.7 million in extras that came with his job at the Trump Organization, including a Manhattan apartment, school tuition for his grandchildren. and luxury cars for him and his wife.
During pretrial sworn questioning in May, Weisselberg, 76, testified that he had trouble sleeping, began seeing a therapist and was taking a generic form of Valium as he tried to “reacclimate to society.”
Trump, in a pretrial statement in April, said his former lieutenant was loved and respected, and “has now been through hell and back.”
“What happened to him is very sad,” Trump said.
In a pretrial ruling last month, the Judge Arthur Engoron found that Trump, Weisselberg and other defendants committed years of fraud by overstating the value of Trump’s assets and net worth in his financial statements.
As punishment, Engoron ordered a court-appointed receiver to take control of some Trump companies, calling into question future oversight of Trump Tower and other major properties. On Friday, an appeals court crashed the app of that aspect of the Engoron ruling, at least for now.
The civil suit concerns allegations of conspiracy, insurance fraud and falsification of business records. James is seeking $250 million in fines and a ban on Trump doing business in New York.
2023-10-11 14:57:39
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