Takeaways From The First Week Of Trump’s Defense In The $250 Million Civil Fraud Trial

Donald Trump ‘s legal team completed the first week of his defense case in the New York civil fraud trial, continuing to build the former president’s defense around experts who provided a different interpretation of the rules the attorney general claims Trump and his business violated to commit fraud.

Trump’s lawyers called six expert witnesses on accounting, real estate, and surety insurance to refute the attorney general’s charges – and Judge Arthur Engoron’s earlier ruling – that the corporation committed fraud.

Engoron, on the other hand, ruled repeatedly in Trump’s favor in court this week, allowing witness testimony and evidentiary submissions over objections from the New York attorney general’s office.

Engoron frequently ascribed the moderate rulings to his efforts to avoid a case reversal or retrial.

“There’s no jury, no prejudice,” the judge declared. “Allow them to present their defense.”

Takeaways From The First Week Of Trump’s Defense In The $250 Million Civil Fraud Trial

In a win for Trump, a New York appeals court temporarily lifted Engoron’s gag order on parties, preventing them from discussing his personnel.

Here’s what you need to know about the week in court:

On Monday, Donald Trump Jr. was the first witness in the defense case to take the stand for the second time at trial.

Trump Jr., also a named defendant, provided the court with a colorful history of the Trump Organization, much of which was gleaned from advertising materials on the company’s website.

The attorney general’s lawyers contended that most promotional photo-laden testimony was irrelevant, but Engoron found it important and fascinating.

Takeaways From The First Week Of Trump’s Defense In The $250 Million Civil Fraud Trial

According to Trump Jr., his father created the family business by taking over run-down properties and utilizing his ” visionary ” skills to transform them into some of the best in the city, country, and, in some cases, the globe.

“He’s a real estate artist.” “He notices things that others don’t,” Trump Jr. remarked of his father.

An appellate judge granted a stay Thursday temporarily blocking Engoron’s gag order, which banned him and his lawyers from discussing the judge’s staff.

“Considering the constitutional and statutory rights at issue, an interim stay is granted,” First Judicial Department Associate Justice David Friedman wrote in a brief statement following an emergency hearing Thursday afternoon.

Takeaways From The First Week Of Trump’s Defense In The $250 Million Civil Fraud Trial

Engoron already penalized the former president $15,000 for his public complaints about the law clerk who sits next to the judge on the bench and feeds him notes during the trial.

Accounting expert Jason Flemmons testified that there are multiple ways to calculate asset valuations under governing accounting principles, and Donald’s financial statements used compliant methodologies – and to the extent they didn’t, disclosures about those deviations from accounting standards were included in the reports, making them compliant as well.

While 95% of the assets listed on Donald’s 2014 personal financial statement deviated from generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), the statements properly disclosed the deviations, according to Flemmons, a certified fraud examiner previously working for the Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement division.

“I don’t believe that I identified any GAAP departures within these supporting materials that were not covered by disclosure in the accountant’s report [or] notes of the finals statements,” Flemmons said in a written statement.

Flemmons claimed that Mazars, the Trump Organization’s long-time accounting firm, was required by accounting standards to comprehend the business’s procedure for valuing assets and find variances, an apparent attempt to place blame on them. He also testified that Mazars would have had enough information about the asset calculations from the Trump Organization to identify any problems at the time.

Takeaways From The First Week Of Trump’s Defense In The $250 Million Civil Fraud Trial

Steven Collins, a contract procurement expert, also spoke briefly on Thursday on Donald’s winning bid for the General Services Administration contract for the Old Post Office building in Washington, DC, which he converted into a hotel. Collins stated that records demonstrate that GSA officials knew that Donald Trump’s financial statements showed GAAP deviations but awarded the contract to the Trump Organization.

Steve Witkoff, the former president’s longtime friend and luxury real estate developer, testified earlier this week as an expert in real estate development.

Witkoff said that the two first met in the 1980s when he bought Donald Trump a ham and Swiss cheese sandwich at a New York deli at 3 a.m. since he didn’t have any money on him.

According to Donald Trump’s lawyers, Witkoff’s testimony as a developer who assesses assets in regular business activity should add credibility to how the former president has indicated he evaluated his asset values in his personal financial statements. Witkoff stated that he evaluates properties mostly based on cash flow and what the property can be used for in the future.

He analyzes the worth of a project with an “opportunistic slant” that focuses on how much value can be added to the property.

Dr. Steven Laposa testified that he believes the attorney general’s civil fraud complaint is “flawed” because he alleges Donald Trump used inflated asset valuations on his financial statements based on the assertion that market value appraisals are “true” benchmarks without considering investment values.

Takeaways From The First Week Of Trump’s Defense In The $250 Million Civil Fraud Trial

Investment values differ from market values because they are based on a set of investment criteria not necessarily representative of the market.

According to a real estate market analysis expert witness, it’s “very common” for appraisers to disagree over the value of the same home, which the former president’s team has claimed throughout the case.

However, during cross-examination on Friday, Assistant Attorney General Louis Solomon questioned the expert’s claim that the complaint was “biased” and “flawed” because the definitions of estimated current market value and market value are the same.

Furthermore, Donald’s financial statements say that the asset valuations in the financial statements are based on estimated current values.

Laposa said Friday that he had never seen that page of the former president’s financial statement before Solomon gave it to him.

SOURCE – (CNN)