Trump testifies in real estate fraud case

Donald Trump has testified in New York where he is accused of inflating the value of his real estate empire by $2.2bn over a decade to defraud banks and insurers. Under oath, Trump said the valuations were, in fact, “very conservative”, and that the value of the “Trump brand” was not even included. He also admitted that he would “have some suggestions” about what buildings were valued at in the reports, undermining his own defence team’s assertion that this was left entirely to accountants. He also said financial statements and valuations were “worthless”, as lenders did not pay much attention to them. He added that he could value a building just by looking at it. Trump dismissed the claim made by judge Arthur Engoron that the value of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida was between $18m and $37m, as stated in a Palm Beach County tax appraisal, claiming that it was worth “50 to 100 times that amount”. Trump spent roughly four hours on the witness stand, but the former president’s attempts to score political points during his testimony clearly infuriated the judge after just a few minutes. More than one he asked Trump’s lawyer, Christopher Kise to “control your client”, adding: “This is not a political rally. This is a courtroom.” “The former and again soon to be chief executive of the United States understands the rules,” Kise said. “He doesn’t abide by them,” the judge replied. But Trump did acknowledge that he was involved in the drafting of the financial statements that Engoron has already found to be fraudulent. Trump added that the statements inflating the square footage of his Trump Tower apartment to 30,000 sq ft from 10,996 sq ft were down to a simple mistake, suggesting they forgot to take out “elevator shafts and different things”. The Trump Organziation made the “mistake” three years running. Trump also said that the rise in values claimed for his golf course properties in Scotland were accurate, despite Trump not developing the homes he claimed would be constructed in one financial statement. “Aberdeen is the oil capital of Europe,” he said, adding that if he did build the homes they would sell for “a tremendous amount of money” because they are “on the North Sea”. In a pre-trial judgement, Engoron has already found Trump guilty of falsifying financial statements. The trial is to ascertain whether he and his sons will be fined $250m and if control of Trump’s New York real estate will be taken from him. To send feedback, e-mail piers.wehner@eg.co.uk or tweet @PiersWehner or @EGPropertyNews Photo by Shutterstock