Trump Is Back At His New York Civil Fraud Trial As Testimony Nears An End

NEW YORK – After a month of criticizing the proceedings from afar, former President Donald Trump returned to his civil business fraud trial as a spectator on Thursday.

After more than two months of testimony, the Republican presidential candidate for 2024 arrived to hear an accounting professor testify about financial issues relevant to the case.

Trump is slated to testify for the second time on Monday.

Even as he campaigns to retake the office and fights four criminal charges, Trump focuses heavily on the New York lawsuit. Outside the courtroom, he’s been a dissatisfied bystander, a combative witness, and a furious pundit.

“This is a witch hunt, and it’s a very corrupt trial,” Trump remarked as he entered the courtroom on Thursday.

The case is putting his net worth on trial, probing his real estate empire, and threatening to bar him from doing business in his home state.

Trump Is Back At His New York Civil Fraud Trial As Testimony Nears An End

In the claim, New York Attorney General Letitia James accuses Trump, his corporation, and some officials of defrauding banks and insurers by providing them with financial statements that overstate the value of trademark properties such as his Trump Tower penthouse and Mar-a-Lago, the Florida club where he now resides.

The statements were submitted to assist in secure deals, such as loans with low-interest rates available to the ultra-wealthy, and certain loans required fresh statements every year.

Donald denies any wrongdoing and claims that the figures in the statements understated his wealth. He has repeatedly minimized the value of the documents in closing agreements, stating that lenders and others should conduct their analyses.

And he argues that James and Judge Arthur Engoron, both Democrats, abused their power in the case.

Eli Bartov, an accounting professor at New York University, testified in Trump’s defense on Thursday.

Trump Is Back At His New York Civil Fraud Trial As Testimony Nears An End

Bartov rejected the attorney general’s assertions that Trump’s financial statements violated basic accounting principles in a report written before his hearing. According to the professor, such statements are merely a starting point for recipients to do their own assessments in the accounting and financial world.

Trump has frequently lamented the situation on his Truth Social platform.

Going to court in person provides him with a microphone —several of them, thanks to the press cameras stationed in the hallway. He frequently expostulates and casts various developments as wins on his way into and out of the proceedings, which cameras cannot record.

When Engoron ruled Trump had breached a gag order that forbids trial participants from publicly commenting on court staffers, he penalized him $10,000 on Oct. 26. Trump’s lawyers are challenging the gag order.

James has not gone unchallenged, frequently — but not on Thursday — showing up to court when Trump is present and making her statements on social media and on the courthouse steps. Lawyers in the case have been instructed not to make press remarks in the hallway, but the former president has been permitted to do so.

Trump Is Back At His New York Civil Fraud Trial As Testimony Nears An End

“Here’s a fact: Donald  has been committing financial fraud for years.” “Here’s another fact: There are consequences when you break the law,” her office tweeted this week on X, formerly Twitter.

While the non-jury trial focuses on allegations of conspiracy, insurance fraud, and manipulating corporate documents, Engoron previously concluded that Trump and the other defendants committed fraud. He appointed a receiver to take charge of some of Trump’s properties, but an appeals court has stayed that order for now.

During the trial, James seeks more than $300 million in penalties and a ban on Donald and the other defendants doing business in New York.

It is unclear when the testimony will conclude, although it is expected before Christmas. Closing arguments are slated for January, and Engoron hopes to reach a verdict by the end of the month.

SOURCE – AP