Donald Trump pumped up his net worth as a vanity project — to climb up Forbes’ list of billionaires — and also so he could save millions on loan and insurance terms, the New York Attorney General’s Office claimed at the start of the former president’s $250 million civil fraud trial Monday.
Trump, 77, stared intently — occasionally shaking his head — as lawyers from AG Letitia James’ office played what they called a damning video clip from the ex-president’s one-time “fixer” Michael Cohen, who said that Trump coached him and former Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg to lie about the value of Trump’s real estate empire to meet his preferred totals.
“The goal was to use each of the assets and increase its value in order to get to the end result number,” Cohen said in the clip of the April 23 deposition played during AG attorney Kevin Wallace’s opening remarks in a packed courtroom in lower Manhattan.
“It was basically backing in numbers to each of the asset classes in order to attain the number that Mr. Trump wanted.”
Trump and his co-defendants — including the Trump Org and his sons Eric and Don Jr. — lied “year after year after year” on financial statements to inflate the value of their assets — both to support Trump’s ego and to secure favorable interest rates with banks, Wallace said.
“Beyond just a place on the Forbes billionaire list, defendants knew that a high net worth is necessary to obtain and maintain certain financial benefits,” the AG lawyer said.
In the brief clip of Cohen’s deposition played for Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron — who is deciding the trial rather than a jury — the convicted felon, who is expected to be a major witness at the trial, described how Trump called him and Weisselberg into his office and griped about his place on the Forbes list before flippantly asking the pair to inflate numbers on financial statements to reach his requested higher net worth sum.
The Attorney General’s Office claimed that Trump inflated his assets for vanity and for financial gain. REUTERS“Let’s say it said he was worth $6 billion. Well, he wanted to be higher on the Forbes list, and he then said, ‘I’m actually not worth $6 billion. I’m worth seven. In fact, I think it’s actually now worth eight, with everything that’s going on,'” Cohen said in the clip, as Trump, wearing a navy blue suit, light blue shirt and royal blue tie, looked on from his seat at the defense table.
“Allen and I were tasked with taking the assets, increasing each of those asset classes in order to accommodate that $8 billion number,” Cohen added.
In one instance, the defendants allegedly lied about the size of the ex-president’s triplex apartment at Trump Tower, saying it was 30,000 square feet when it actually measured just 11,000, Wallace said.
The AG’s office also showed evidence of what they said was Trump’s camp inflating the value of the Trump Building on 40 Wall Street in a 2015 financial statement to $795 million – $195 million over the value it was appraised at.
Deposition clips from Trump and his sons were also played in court in which they all claimed they didn’t have direct involvement in the financial filings the AG claims were falsified from 2011 through 2021.
“Defendants are left to answer the classic question, are you lying now or were you lying then?” Wallace told the court. “We have direct evidence that people involved in the scheme conspired to inflate the defendant’s wealth.”
Trump sat in the courtroom next to his attorneys, grimacing and shaking his head as parts of Michael Cohen’s video deposition were played. APJames, sitting in the front row of the gallery, looked on as the openings were delivered. She and Trump — who could be seen scowling as he sat at a table flanked by his attorneys — did not appear to make eye contact. Eric Trump, the Trump Org’s executive vice president, observed from the second row.
In one 2011 letter cited by Wallace, Trump sent a Deutsche Bank employee records about his financial standing and wrote, “Hopefully, you will be impressed.”
The attorney said the letter was proof of the real estate mogul’s vanity — and also helped ensure that he could get into a special program at the bank for people worth $3 billion or more that came with special interest rates.
Others at the Trump Org were aware of the pressure Trump put on people around him to always portray his net worth as being on the rise, Wallace said, quoting the company’s assistant vice president of financial operations, Patrick Birney.
“He likes it to go up,” Birney said about Trump’s net worth in an August 2022 deposition.
AG lawyer Kevin Wallace claimed that Trump and his co-defendants lied “year after year after year.” AP
Trump accused James of being racist before he walked into the courtroom. ReutersWallace concluded his remarks by emphasizing to the judge that “these are not victimless crimes.”
Trump lawyer Christopher Kise, in his opening statement, quickly took aim at Cohen’s credibility.
“The government hinges its proof of conspiracy on a serial liar,” Kise charged.
Wallace had tried in his remarks to address the Trump camp’s main defense that Cohen can’t be trusted, telling the judge his “testimony is corroborated with other evidence in the case.”
Trump’s attorney also challenged the AG’s claim that the ex-president pumped up his worth by as much as $3.6 billion a year — and denied that any of the financial statements in question included lies.
AG Letitia James said outside court that no one is above the law. REUTERS
The trial is expected to last for three months. Getty Images“President Trump has made billions of dollars building one of the most successful real estate empires in the world,” Kise said. “He has made a fortune on being right about real estate investments.”
Kise attempted to debunk the argument that the crimes weren’t victimless by claiming that the banks made “well over $100 million” off his client’s accounts and adding that all the loans were repaid.
Trump lawyer Alina Habba echoed Kise’s message in her opening remarks, loudly declaring: “These are sophisticated banks.”
Protesters showed up for the start of trial and even blocked the road outside the courthouse at one point. REUTERS
Trump’s lawyers claimed that the banks made a lot of money off him and that he paid back all the loans he took out. AP“These banks made money. They were not defrauded,” Habba told the court. “That is not fraud. That is real estate.”
The trial — which is expected to last through Dec. 27 — began with Engoron rejecting the media’s request to livestream the proceedings.
In a bombshell decision from last week, Engoron ruled on the AG’s main claim by finding that Trump was liable of fraud and revoking his business licenses in New York.
The case is expected to see witnesses including Trump, Eric, Don Jr., Ivanka Trump, Weisselberg and Cohen as the judge considers the rest of the AG’s claims, which require a showing that Trump and his team intended to make the allegedly false statements.
Cohen’s testimony could be particularly pivotal to James’ office’s effort to make its case.
Eric Trump, another defendant in the case, sat in the second row as opening statements were delivered. REUTERS
Judge Arthur Engoron is deciding the trial, rather than a jury. APThe 45th president and James gave dueling statements before the trial began around 10:30 a.m. Monday.
“We have a racist attorney general who is a horror show who ran on the basis that she’s going to ‘get Trump’ before she knew anything about me,” Trump said of James, who is black, as he stood just outside the courtroom. “It’s a scam, it’s a sham. Just so you know, my financial statements are phenomenal.”
Trump also called Engoron a “rogue judge” and said the trial “is a continuation of the greatest witch hunt.”
Upon entering the courthouse, James said, “My message is simple — no matter how powerful you are, no matter how much money you think you may have, no one is above the law.”
“It is my responsibility and my duty and my job to enforce it. The law is both powerful and fragile and today in court we will prove our case.”
Trump protesters showed up in force Monday holding signs and even blocking the street outside the courthouse.
