On Thursday, an accounting expert tried to support the defense’s claim that valuing a corporation is a very subjective process during former president Trump’s civil fraud trial in New York.
Trump criticised the judge presiding over the trial, Arthur Engoron, and the attorney general of New York, Letitia James, who launched the case against him, and characterised the trial as “corrupt” in his brief remarks to reporters before entering the courtroom.
The ex-president adamantly denied any wrongdoing.
During his testimony on Thursday, defence accounting expert Eli Bartov was also lauded by Trump. Accounting standards provide a great deal of leeway for valuation calculation methodologies used on personal financial accounts, according to Bartov, an accounting expert at New York University’s Stern School of Business.
Trump did not participate in the fourth Republican presidential debate, and the former president will be appearing in court the day after. While criticising the attorney general’s civil lawsuit against him, the former president—who is leading the Republican primary—refused to answer questions regarding the GOP contest on Thursday morning.
The real estate company that Trump has built is at the centre of the high-stakes lawsuit dispute. In a $250 million lawsuit, New York Attorney General Letitia James is attempting to prohibit Trump from conducting business in her state.
Trump and his co-defendants were found guilty of fraud by Judge Engoron.
Financial figures are not misleading, according to Trump’s defence, and several persons can assign different valuations to the same piece of real estate.
Given the Trump family’s reliance on accountants and the insignificance of any discrepancies in property values, the defence has contended that no intention to deceive banks or insurers existed.
After reviewing the information, Bartov concluded that there was zero proof of accounting fraud during his testimony on Thursday. “On the flip side, my research proves that there was no major error in the financial statements.”
“Are the claims made by the AG without merit, according to your expert opinion?” Asked Engoron.
In my opinion, that is totally correct. Without a doubt. “I replied,” Bartov responded.
“Errors like that are not unusual,” Bartov said, although acknowledging that Trump’s triplex unit at Trump Tower was overpriced and that other mistakes were included in Trump’s financial papers.
Even though Bartov looked for red flags in the reports and remarks, he “couldn’t find a single provision that was violated,” he claimed. No luck for me.
However, Engoron found that the Trumps committed “persistent and repeated fraud” in September, prior to the trial’s commencement, by artificially increasing the worth of assets on the financial statements.Six additional counts, including insurance fraud, fabricating company records, presenting false financial statements, and conspiracy, are being pursued by the state.
“Donald Trump engaged in years of financial fraud and enriched himself and his family,” James wrote on X, absent from court on Thursday. We have previously established the enormous scope of his deceit. The facts remain unchanged regardless of his deceit.
Since Bartov was not addressing material that had already been allowed at trial, the attorney general’s office had raised an objection to his testimony, claiming that his lengthy account of the complaint was irrelevant.
Additionally, a New York appeals court upheld an earlier decision made by a single judge at the beginning of the civil fraud trial by agreeing to delay the revocation of Trump’s business certificates until the trial and any appeals are concluded. This decision was made on Thursday.
Outside the courthouse, Trump immediately praised the verdict as a “very good ruling” upon its announcement. The decision “helps pave the way for a much needed, and deliberative, review of the trial court’s many errors,” his attorney Chris Kise said in a similar vein to AWN.
The appeals court was informed by the attorney general’s office that it did not object to the suspension of the business certificate cancellation process.
Monday will likely see Trump’s return to the stand as a witness in the trial. Last month, while testifying as a witness, he used inflated hyperbole and attacked James and Engoron.
A New York appeals court reinstated the former president’s gag order late last month, barring him from criticising court workers.
A clerk, whom Trump claims is prejudiced against him, was the first target of the order prohibiting Trump from publicly criticising his court’s workers that Engoron issued.
