#Civil #fraud #TrumpTrial Nov 2, 2023
Again, #DonaldTrumpJr is testifying & questioning is by #NYAG lawyer Faherty.
NYAG asks Jr about his role, in inflating #Trump's wealth.
Jr testifies that he relied on accountants, at #Mazars specifically, & fmr #TrumpOrganization CFO #AllenWeisselberg, for info.
NYAG shows a 2017 letter *authenticating* Trump's #NetWorth, signed by Jr (oops), which accompanied Trump's statements of financial condition (#SFC) that was sent to a #bank re a #loan.
#DonaldTrumpJr says he doesn't remember what specifically happened in 2017 re that #bank #loan, but describes his process:
"I would have sat w/relevant parties, mainly in accounting... asked them if everything they told me was correct. I also would have checked w/our #legal dept.”
Then if everything sounded okay,
“I would have signed off accordingly. If they're telling me it's ok, & legal tells me that"
he would have relied on their word for the letter about #Trump’s wealth.
#NYAG asks #DonaldTrumpJr more about his certification of Trump’s #SFCs for other yrs, & he answers he doesn't recall details, but he that he would have followed the same process in those yrs.
#NYAG shows another 2017 letter sent to #DeutscheBank from #Mazars, the #TrumpOrganization's fmr accounting firm.
It says BASED ON discussions Mazars had w/ the #trustees (Jr & #AllenWeisselberg) of the #DonaldJTrumpRevocableTrust, #Trump’s #SFCs are correct.
(The trust was set up to hold #Trump’s business assets during his presidency to avoid conflicts of interest.)
#NYAG questions #DonaldTrumpJr about other certifications re #Trump’s #SFCs they sent to #lenders over several years.
There are more letters to #banks from #Mazars. Each letter, every time says that the #trustees (Jr & #AllenWeisselberg) of the #DonaldJTrumpRevocableTrust are responsible for the Trump's SFCs (oops).
#DonaldTrumpJr just repeats he doesn't recall for each specific circumstance/ letter, but his process was the same as he outlined earlier.
One can only conclude from the #NYAG’s questions, the evidence & Jr’s replies: he is #liable for #fraud & making false statements. He signed off on every one of the presented certifications for loans, property appraisals, all of it; in doing so he repeatedly asserted #Trump's #SFCs were true, when they were BS (Jr’s real degree from #Wharton).
Importantly, in Sept, Justice #Engoron ruled in his partial #SummaryJudgment that #Trump et al are – as a decided matter of law – liable for #fraud; this trial is only deciding the remaining charges of #InsuranceFraud, #FalsifyingBusinessRecords, considering whether defendants "intentionally & materially" violated the laws & determining the amount of #disgorgement.
In his testimony #DonaldTrumpJr, is saying that he acted purely perfunctorily, & relied entirely on accountants & lawyers (#intent).
#NYAG’s questions switch to the #TrumpOrganization's #insurance policies.
Jr. says he wasn't very involved.
NYAG asks if it's a fair statement that between 2011 & the present, he was generally familiar w/the overall finances of #TrumpOrg.
Jr: "I would think so, yes.”
(break in proceedings)
#TrumpTrial resumes
Judge #Engoron: "Mr. Trump, did you have anything to do w/the statements of financial condition?”
#DonaldTrumpJr: "No I did not your honor.”
#NYAG asks Jr what exactly he did do at the #TrumpOrganization.
#Trump atty Chris #Kise objects, & the judge agrees, tells Faherty to be specific.
NYAG is finished w/Jr. No cross at this time. He may be recalled.
#EricTrump up.
Questioning for #NYAG is atty Andrew Amer.
#EricTrump testifies that he started as a project manager at #TrumpOrganization, then became an executive VP.
NYAG: "Is it fair to say we can view the #TrumpOrg hierarchy as a pyramid w/ your father at the top?”
Eric: "Yes. I work w/many other people, but I report to my father."
Eric said he ran the business w/ #DonaldTrumpJr & fmr CFO #AllenWeisselberg during the #Trump presidency.
#EricTrump says, "People ask me questions all the time, but I never worked on the statements of financial condition.” (#SFC)
#NYAG asks if -prior to 2012- Eric knew that #Trump (Sr) had SFCs.
Eric: "Not to the best of my understanding.”
NYAG asks if he doesn't recall or is certain.
Eric: "I think I was 26...as I said I was unaware of the SFCs.”
Eric added: “I didn't know about them" until this case.
(Either these guys are the worst business people ever, or they’re perjurying themselves.)
#NYAG starts on #Trump’s 2012 offer for a golf club in NC.
#EricTrump: "I was involved in negotiating [parts] of the deal.”
Eric added he was one of the key people involved in negotiations.
Despite #Trump having 2nd thoughts acc/to an #AllenWeisselberg email, Eric said that they were going forward w/it.
For the deal to close, club members had to vote in favor of the purchase; a club rep came to NY to review Trump's #financials, & the Trumps required he sign an #NDA.
#NYAG re #NDA: "You were concerned about him distributing the financial [information] to club members”
#EricTrump: "Possibly, yes…. I just didn't want information distributed to 1200 people, no matter who they were”
Eric said he never reviewed #Trump's SFCs.
"It's just not what I do at the company.”
“I understood we had financials at the company & we had an accounting dept... that would work w/outside entities….”
"I did not work on the statements of financial condition.”
#NYAG shows an Aug 20 2012 email in which #JeffMcConney tells Eric he's working on #Trump #SFCs & needs #valuation info on #SevenSprings.
NYAG: "He's asking for your assistance in 2013”
#EricTrump: "Yes.” Eric adds he gave info on project statuses to McConney.
NYAG: "Mr. Trump it is an undeniable fact, is it not, that as of Dec 4, 2012... you did know that your father had an annual financial statement (which) was used to show your father's financial wherewithal?"
Eric: "it's just incorrect."
#NYAG moved on, & asks #EricTrump about a 2010 email he received from #AllenWeisselberg, in which the fmr CFO forwarded an #NDA & used the term "f/s".
Eric testified "f/s" means #financial statements
"A" financial statement, he clarified. Not "The." He also said he doesn't remember what the NDA was for.
Eric: “The chance of me reading a confidentiality agreement that I did not execute I think is zero.”
The #NYAG pressed #EricTrump on his knowledge of #Trump's personal financial statements.
Eric insisted he was only generally aware of #TrumpOrganization financial stmnts.
Eric: "Yes, we're a major organization, a massive real estate organization…..we had financial statements, absolutely.”
(Eric seemed irritated at this point)
"…I had no involvement, never worked...on my father's statements of financial condition.”
#TrumpTrial Nov 2, 2023, PM
#NYAG cont’d direct of #EricTrump re #SFC, #appraisals, his claimed ignorance of #financial stmnts, & his involvement w/inflating #Trump’s #NetWorth.
NYAG started w/an email exchange between Eric & #TrumpOrganization’s #JeffMcConney:
Email from #McConney to Eric, Aug 23, 2013 ends:
"With all of the renovations that were done since the last statement in June 2015 I wanted to ask you if there is anything you wanted to add to or expand in the footnotes?"
#EricTrump replied to #McConney:
"All of Doral will be about 200 million - do you want the blue monster specifically?" (Eric is referring to the Blue Monster golf course at the #Trump National #Doral resort in Miami, FL)
Eric says that he would have been providing info on different Trump properties - he clarified “descriptions” implying he was just describing various projects.
#NYAG showed a 2015 email from #AllenWeisselberg to #EricTrump in which he discussed securing a line of #credit.
Weisselberg tells Eric that he'll be using #Trump Sr's #financial stmnts to secure it.
Eric testified that he read the email.
Another email, Feb. 23, 2017, #JeffMcConney asks Eric for input on footnotes to Trump's SFCs:
"We're working on your Dad's financial statement," McConney wrote, "footnotes related to the three European clubs."
#NYAG is going after #EricTrump’s "awareness" of the #SFCs & involvement in this line of questioning.
NYAG: “You understood that what he (McConney) was attaching (to the Feb 23, 2017 email) was a draft portion of your dad's financial statements, yes or no?”
Eric: “Yes.”
“…I think we can agree...that my father had financial statements...I've testified to that several times.”
Eric was clearly frustrated at this point per reporters in the viewing room.
#NYAG played part of #EricTrump’s video #deposition in which he said that working on those statements wasn’t part of his job.
NYAG Asked if that testimony was under@#oath.
Eric: “Yes.”
In it, Eric denied any involvement in his #Trump's #SFC & said he didn’t send McConney info to be used in it.
From Eric’s video depo: "This is accounting, this is not what I'm doing on a day to day basis, stuck in an office”
He even claimed (see morning thread) he didn’t know about SFCs until this case began.
#NYAG: "Will you now concede that you were in fact very familiar w/your father’s statement of financial condition since 2013, yes or no?"
#EricTrump: “No, I was not very familiar”
“…I never had an understanding that any conversation w/Jeff was about..the statements of financial condition.”
#NYAG next played the section from the #EricTrump video deposition when the interviewer asked, “Do you have any reason to believe Mr. #McConney would reference a conversation w/you if it didn't happen?”
To which Eric (in the video) replied: "I know nothing about the statement of financial of condition. I don't know anything about the backup (of the SFC). It's just not what I did.… I was responsible for building properties & pouring concrete.”
The #NYAG moved on to #SevenSprings & the processes to acquire its conservation #easement.
#TrumpOrganization engaged real estate firm #Cushman&Wakefield to do its appraisal.
We heard previous testimony from Cushman & Wakefield re #EricTrump’s involvement.
"Eric Trump was deeply involved in this process, taking the lead on the Seven Springs property w/in his family & the #Trump Org. At various times from 2011 to 2016, Eric Trump spent time living at the property & repeatedly met w/town ofcls”
#NYAG showed a 2013 email from #JeffMcConney to #EricTrump in which McConney tell Eric he needs the value for the #SevenSprings estate in Westchester County, NY.
NYAG questioned Eric about speaking to someone from Cushman & Wakefield in 2014 about the appraisal process.
Eric testified he remembered speaking to someone from the firm about it.
(Eric repeatedly has avoided yes or no answers to questioning.)
#NYAG asked whether #EricTrump recalled if the #SevenSprings appraisal was “preliminary” or not.
(Paraphrasing) Eric: you would have to ask the #TrumpOrg's fmr outside counsel Sherri Dillon, who was "much closer to the process."
NYAG, making clear that Eric is who is on the stand, said: “There's a lot of people I could ask," then asks Eric again.
Eric: “I don’t recall.”
NYAG continued w/ 2014 discussions re #SevenSprings' valuation.
In an Oct 2014 email, #SherriDillon discussed termination of Cushman & Wakefield’s engagement.
#EricTrump: "I have very little recollection of all of this.”
NYAG questioned Eric re the 71 units that were never built.
This was well covered on Day5 of this TrumpTrial during McConney’s testimony here’s my thread from then:
#NYAG showed #EricTrump’s email exchange w/ #CushmanWakefield appraiser David McArdle, who testified earlier (attached).
(This is also indirectly addressed in Eric’s video deposition where he claimed he didn’t know McArdle 🙄)
NYAG asked Eric if he now agreed that the Cushman 2014 #valuation of #SevenSprings was disregarded for the purpose of (to bolster) #Trump's #SFC.
Eric: "No, the exercises are apples & oranges, one has nothing to do w/the other.”
This is when the whole “we’re gonna build luxury homes on the property” stuff was floated.
Gee I wonder why?
It’s not like the appraiser said the #SevenSprings easement property was only worth $12.5k & then imaginary homes that cost (an also imaginary) $23M each are suddenly in the mix & boost the property’s value up $161M.
& then #Trump DONATED THE PROPERTY AT THAT TOTALLY IMAGINARY VALUATION FOR A HUGE TAX BREAK!
& THEY NEVER BUILT THE HOMES!
I mean… FFS, if you, or I….↑
But, back to today’s #TrumpTrial & #EricTrump’s testimony.
NYAG: “Did you ever tell Mr. #McConney about the Cushman valuation?"
Eric: "I would have never have thought to.”
(Hold the phone, I thought Eric claimed he didn’t even know the Cushman appraiser)
NYAG then showed a notation on a spreadsheet of data supporting a #SFC:
"11/17/2015- Per telephone conversation w/Eric Trump - leave value as is"
Eric says he has no reason to doubt the conversation occurred.
@AlliFlowers
@Nonilex