After a fiery first day of opening arguments, lawyers in a business fraud trial in New York involving former US president Donald Trump yesterday were to start going through years of his financial documents.
An accountant who prepared Trump’s financial statements for years was expected to be back on the witness stand for a second day.
Trump, who spent Monday as a spectator at the civil trial, was contemplating a return to court as well.
Photo: AP
After denouncing the judge and New York’s attorney general, who brought the lawsuit, Trump said in a courtroom hallway that he “may” be back for a second day, although as a candidate in next year’s US presidential election he added: “I’d love to be campaigning instead of doing this.”
The trial is the culmination of a lawsuit in which New York Attorney General Letitia James has accused Trump of deceiving banks, insurers and others for years by giving them papers that misstated the value of his assets.
Judge Arthur Engoron already delivered an early victory to James, ruling that Trump committed fraud by exaggerating the size of his penthouse at Trump Tower, including claiming that his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida was worth as much as US$739 million.
The non-jury trial concerns six remaining claims in the lawsuit, and how much Trump might owe in penalties.
James is seeking US$250 million and a ban on Trump doing business in New York.
The judge has already ruled that some of Trump’s limited liability companies should be dissolved as punishment.
During the trial’s first day, Kevin Wallace, a lawyer for the attorney general, told the judge that Trump and his company had lied “year after year after year” in his financial statements to make him look richer than he really was.
Trump’s lawyers said the statements were legitimate representations of the worth of unique luxury properties, made even more valuable because of their association with Trump.
“That is not fraud. That is real estate,” attorney Alina Habba said.
Trump watched the opening statements, emerging several times to tell reporters that the trial was “a sham” intended to hurt his election prospects.
Trump said that the judge was coming around to the defense view that most of the allegations in the lawsuit are barred by the state’s statute of imitations.
After the first witness, Mazars LLP partner Donald Bender, testified about Trump’s 2011 financial statement, Engoron asked whether it might have been a waste of his time, because any fraud in the document would be beyond the legal time limit.
Wallace promised to link it to a more recent loan agreement.
Bender’s testimony was to resume yesterday.
The trial is expected to last into December.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
BORDER SERVICES: With the US-funded International Rescue Committee telling clinics to shut by tomorrow, Burmese refugees face sudden discharge from Thai hospitals Healthcare centers serving tens of thousands of refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border have been ordered shut after US President Donald Trump froze most foreign aid last week, forcing Thai officials to transport the sickest patients to other facilities. The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which funds the clinics with US support, told the facilities to shut by tomorrow, a local official and two camp committee members said. The IRC did not respond to a request for comment. Trump last week paused development assistance from the US Agency for International Development for 90 days to assess compatibility with his “America First” policy. The freeze has thrown
TESTING BAN: Satellite photos show a facility in the Chinese city of Mianyang that could aid nuclear weapons design and power generation, a US researcher said China appears to be building a large laser-ignited fusion research center in the southwestern city of Mianyang, experts at two analytical organizations said, a development that could aid nuclear weapons design and work exploring power generation. Satellite photos show four outlying “arms” that would house laser bays, and a central experiment bay that would hold a target chamber containing hydrogen isotopes the powerful lasers would fuse together, producing energy, said Decker Eveleth, a researcher at US-based independent research organization CNA Corp. It is a similar layout to the US$3.5 billion US National Ignition Facility (NIF) in northern California, which in 2022 generated
RSS