The civil trial against former President Donald Trump, his family and his business empire will continue Tuesday with more witness testimony as New York Attorney General Letitia James seeks to make her case that the Trump Organization overvalued its assets.
Trump attended the first day of the trial Monday and is expected to return Tuesday.
The court is expected to reconvene with James’ office tying testimony from its first witness, Donald Bender of accounting firm Mazars USA LLP, to its overall case. Bender’s testimony focused on financial records dating back to 2011, which fell outside of the statute of limitations.
Judge Arthur Engoron, who is presiding over the non-jury civil trial, said the questioning was a “waste of time” unless James’ office could tie it back to something within the statute of limitations–something James’ office promised to do Tuesday.
Former US President Donald Trump (C) sits with his attorneys inside the courtroom during his civil fraud case brought by state Attorney General Letitia James, at a Manhattan courthouse, in New York City, on October 2, 2023. Former US president Donald Trump was in court Monday for what he slammed as a “sham” civil fraud trial against him and two of his sons, with the case threatening the Republican’s business empire as he campaigns to retake the White House. (Brendan McDermid-Pool/AFP/Getty Images)
Monday’s session marked an unprecedented scene in a Manhattan courtroom—featuring the former president of the United States and current 2024 Republican presidential primary frontrunner and his children defending their business empire.
Before entering the courtroom, Trump spoke to reporters, blasting the “disgrace” of a civil trial stemming from “corrupt” James’ lawsuit against him, and presided over by “corrupt” Judge Arthur Engoron.
Engoron last week ruled that Trump and the Trump Organization committed fraud while building his real estate empire by deceiving banks, insurers and others by overvaluing his assets and exaggerating his net worth on paperwork used in making deals and securing financing.
Engoron’s ruling came after James sued Trump, his children and the Trump Organization, alleging that the former president “inflated his net worth by billions of dollars,” and said his children helped him to do so.
Trump attorney Christopher Kise, in his opening statement Monday, said Trump’s financial statements contained no false entries, and argued that prosecutors were relying on the word of a “known liar”—former Trump attorney Michael Cohen—to establish wrongdoing.
Former US President Donald Trump (C) sits with his attorneys inside the courtroom during his civil fraud case brought by state Attorney General Letitia James, at a Manhattan courthouse, in New York City, on October 2, 2023. Former US president Donald Trump was in court Monday for what he slammed as a “sham” civil fraud trial against him and two of his sons, with the case threatening the Republican’s business empire as he campaigns to retake the White House. (Brendan McDermid-Pool/AFP/Getty Images)
Prosecutors claimed that Trump and his associates knowingly submitted false financial statements—basing their theory on Cohen’s sworn testimony. The prosecution played a clip of Cohen stating that Trump would regularly task him and other lawyers with inflating his net worth, even if only to raise his placement on the Forbes wealth list. The video showed Cohen testifying that he witnessed this behavior on a regular basis from 2011 to 2015.
Meanwhile, Trump attorney Alina Habba also highlighted that James began investigating Trump soon after she took her post as attorney general in 2019, after promising voters during her campaign that she would “get Trump” if elected.
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As for the Trump Organization’s valuations, Habba argued they were not fraudulent and stressed that the state of Trump’s financial condition was, in fact, “undervalued.”
Habba continued by saying that prosecutors were essentially arguing that if an individual listed their home at one price, but it sold for a lower one, they committed fraud.
Trump’s defense team argued that Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida estate, would sell for “at least” $1 billion—much more than Engoron’s valuation of $18 million.
Trump himself spoke to reporters outside the courtroom shortly after Habba’s statement. He argued that he has been “defrauded” by Engoron’s low valuation.
Former President Donald Trump speaks with journalists before entering a courtroom in New York Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, to attend the start of a civil trial in a lawsuit that already has resulted in a judge ruling that he committed fraud in his business dealings. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
“We’re wasting time with this trial. It’s a disgrace,” Trump said. “The judge already made up his mind. He’s a Democrat. He’s an operative.”
The prosecution on Monday also called its first witness— Donald Bender, from the accounting firm, Mazars USA LLP. Bender, who spent several years preparing Trump’s tax returns, testified that he frequently interacted with Jeffrey McConney, the controller for the Trump Organization, to prepare statements of financial conditions, or balance sheets.
Bender said the information would be put into an engagement binder, and McConney or a member of his team would send an early draft of the statement and send backup schedules to cross-reference to make sure numbers were correct. Bender said he had to make sure the numbers on the statement they sent would match the numbers going into a spreadsheet.
Bender testified he didn’t take any measures to ensure the information provided was true. He only raised an issue if something glaring stood out.
Attorney General Letitia James arrives for the start of the civil fraud trial of former President Donald Trump at New York State Supreme Court on October 02, 2023 in New York City. Former President Trump may be forced to sell off his properties after Justice Arthur Engoron canceled his business certificates and ruled that he committed fraud for years while building his real estate empire after being sued by Attorney General Letitia James, who is seeking $250 million in damages. The trial will determine how much he and his companies will be penalized for the fraud. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
The Trump Organization was responsible for meeting generally accepted accounting procedures (GAAP), he said. Bender answered “yes” when asked if there were GAAP exceptions in multiple instances between 2011-2020. He said the Trump organization made the decision for a GAAP exception each time, and that he did not perform any additional accounting procedures to see if a GAAP exception was necessary.
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Bender testified that Mazars would not have issued the statement of financial condition for the Trump Organization if the firm was aware that any of the information was untrue.
But after nearly two hours of Bender testifying on 2011 financial documents, Judge Engoron criticized the prosecution, noting the documents in question fell outside the statute of limitations.
The Appellate Division in Manhattan decided this summer that James could no longer sue for alleged transactions that occurred before July 13, 2014, or Feb. 6, 2016, depending on the defendant.
Eric Trump arrives at New York Supreme Court, Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, in New York. Former President Donald Trump is making a rare, voluntary trip to court in New York for the start of a civil trial in a lawsuit that already has resulted in a judge ruling that he committed fraud in his business dealings. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
“Unless you can relate the 2011 docs to something that happened later, this has all been a waste of time,” Engoron said.
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James’ office promised the judge to explain why it is relevant during Tuesday’s session.
James, a Democrat, brought the lawsuit against Trump last year alleging he and his company misled banks and others about the value of his assets. James claimed Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric, as well as his associates and businesses, committed “numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation” on their financial statements.
That appellate ruling over the summer also dismissed Ivanka Trump as a defendant.
Fox News’ Maria Paronich contributed to this report.