Trump Organization top brass weighed boosting Donald Trump’s net worth with a “presidential bonus” while he was in office, according to testimony that closed the second week of a fraud trial.
Trump Organization Assistant Vice President Patrick Birney took the stand as a witness in Manhattan Supreme Court Friday morning in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ $250 million civil fraud case against Trump, 77 years old.
Birney, who began his testimony Thursday afternoon, said company executives were contemplating adding between 15% and 35% to the value of Trump’s properties on the premise that people would value them more when Trump was the acting president, ABC News reported.
This was reflected in draft versions of an annual 2017 Financial Statement in which leadership wanted to add up to $144 million to Trump’s assets for a “presidential property bonus,” Birney said.
This included increasing the valuation of Mar-a-Lago, which was described on the form as the “presidential winter residence,” according to records filed in court.
Trump Org top brass weighed boosting Donald Trump’s net worth with a presidential bonus, a company executive testified Friday.
The real estate company was looking for ways to offset a $200 million drop in Trump’s net worth from 2016 to 2017 after a Forbes article revealed that the Trump Tower triplex had been drastically overvalued.
The “bonus,” however, did not appear in the final draft of the 2017 financial document.
AG attorney Eric Haren asked Birney, who helped prepare these annual returns from 2016 to 2021, “who directed him” to add the “bonus.”
Trump could appear in court again next week to face the next witness scheduled to testify, Michael Cohen.AP
“I don’t really remember, but probably Allen Weisselberg,” Birney said of the company’s veteran CFO.
James claims Trump lied in his financial statements from 2011 to 2021 to get better loan and insurance terms and climb Forbes’ billionaire list.
Birney was the only witness during the half-day of the trial on Friday and is scheduled to resume his testimony on Monday morning.
New York Attorney General Letitia James claims Trump grossly exaggerated his net worth for a decade to gain an advantage in terms of loans and insurance.Getty Images
Trump’s onetime personal lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen is listed as the next witness to be called after Birney and is likely to take the stand early next week.
The former commander in chief, who attended the first three days of the trial last week, could appear again in the Lower Manhattan court to face Cohen, a source told The Post.
Cohen is expected to be a key witness in the attorney general’s case, which the Trump camp has criticized, as Cohen is a convicted felon and alleged liar.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn