Andrew Amer, a lawyer for the New York attorney general, is walking through the allegations of fraud in Donald Trump’s financial statements related to multiple Trump properties.
Amer and assistant attorney general Kevin Wallace showed in court a powerpoint presentation with trial testimony for each property akin to a college lecture.
“The material nature of the inflation of the assets is just so obvious,” Amer said, reminding Judge Arthur Engoron that he already ruled the “false inflation was in fact material,” in the summary judgment order before the trial began.
Amer asserted that former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney, a co-defendant in the case, had to know that rent-stabilized units were worth less than unrestricted apartments when he purposely overvalued Trump Park Ave on the financial statements by falsely claiming they were not rent-stabilized.
Engoron challenged him, “How do we know McConney knew?”
“Because he’s not an idiot,” Amer said to laughs.
“Are you sure you want to argue that?” Engoron asked laughing.
Amer insisted McConney knew what he was doing.
Amer then moved on to Mar-a-Lago arguing that Trump valued it as a single-family residence on his financial statements, even though a deed from 2002 showed Trump could only use the property as a social club.
Engoron again asked Amer, “How do you know he read the deed?”
Amer said McConney had it in his possession and used appraisals that referenced the deed.
Trump’s lawyers have argued Trump could convert Mar-a-Lago into a private residence in the future and that it is under-valued in the financial statements.
Attorneys for Trump and Attorney General Letitia James disagree on the burden of proof the attorney general’s office must prove in this case.
James’ legal team argues they only have to prove their claims by a “preponderance of the evidence,” or that it is more likely than not that the fraud occurred.
Trump’s lawyers say they must prove Trump and his co-defendants committed the fraud by “clear and convincing evidence” — a higher standard of proof.
But it ultimately doesn’t matter what standard Engoron rules by because the attorney general has proven the case with “overwhelming and conclusive” evidence, Amer argued Thursday afternoon.
Amer also argued that there was plenty of evidence of their intent to defraud the users of the financial statements, pointing to Trump’s triplex apartment, which the company valued at 30,000 square feet, not the actual square footage of 10,996 square feet.
Amer said Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of the Trump Org., was alerted by Forbes magazine to the error but days later signed off on the 2016 financial statement with the wrong amount, resulting in a tripling of the value of the three-story apartment.
“He knew he was using an input that was absolutely wrong and tripled the size, yet he used it anyway,” he said. “That screams as an intent to defraud.”
Source: www.cnn.com