State of New York vs Trump, et al - the civil fraud case against the Trump Organization

[chancery]

I know that everyone here realizes this, and that TFG may be the only one in the world who doesn't, but the prosecutor is not going after Trump's children. He is going after the top executives of the Trump Organization.

?? Donald Jr. & Eric are top executives and defendants.

[Ben-Prime]

I know that everyone here realizes this, and that TFG may be the only one in the world who doesn't, but the prosecutor is not going after Trump's children. He is going after the top executives of the Trump Organization.

?? Donald Jr. & Eric are top executives and defendants.

The distinction being that they are not being called into court because as his children, who may have discussed Daddy's crimes with him at the dinner table, they have knowledge of Daddy's crimes. They are being called into court because as executives of TFG's company, who may have committed crimes along side him or witnessed others so doing, they have knowledge of TFG's crimes. At least, I think that's what Noblepa was going for.

[Suranis]

Reports I'm hearing of Junior's testimony, I get the impression Weisselberg is going under the bus.

That shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. "How could this guy, who does everything I told him, betray innocent trusting me by doing stuff to my advantage" is a standard get out of jail free strategy for everyone from Arpiao to TFG.

[Rolodex]

Jr will be back on the stand tomorrow.

Today, he was talking about the revokable trust that was created when dopey was elected. It was supposed to separate him from the business (yeah right) and Jr was made a trustee (but not Eric!). Jr couldn't remember when he was made a trustee and when that was removed (fortunately AG came to the rescue with signed papers).

Turns out TFG signed back on as a trustee in July 2021. Kind of negates his insistence that he was still president. Meanwhile, Jr doesn't know if he's a trustee or not. And yes, he was gassing up the bus for Alan (whom he said resigned when he had "something legal happening" - um he got convicted for tax fraud and went to prison).

[MN-Skeptic]

Jr will be back on the stand tomorrow.

Today, he was talking about the revokable trust that was created when dopey was elected. It was supposed to separate him from the business (yeah right) and Jr was made a trustee (but not Eric!). Jr couldn't remember when he was made a trustee and when that was removed (fortunately AG came to the rescue with signed papers).

Turns out TFG signed back on as a trustee in July 2021. Kind of negates his insistence that he was still president. Meanwhile, Jr doesn't know if he's a trustee or not. And yes, he was gassing up the bus for Alan (whom he said resigned when he had "something legal happening" - um he got convicted for tax fraud and went to prison).

No… it was January 15, 2021.

[Rolodex]

Yep, January, not July (I misremembered what I'd read). Here's a good wrap up of the day.
https://themessenger.com/politics/trump ... a-evidence

[noblepa]

I know that everyone here realizes this, and that TFG may be the only one in the world who doesn't, but the prosecutor is not going after Trump's children. He is going after the top executives of the Trump Organization.

?? Donald Jr. & Eric are top executives and defendants.

Yes, but they're not being prosecuted because they are TFG's kids. They're being prosecuted because they are top executives in the Trump Organization.

No one has even suggested that Baron be indicted or called to testify. He is certainly one of TFG's kids, but he had nothing to do with the fraudulent operations of the company.

[noblepa]

I know that everyone here realizes this, and that TFG may be the only one in the world who doesn't, but the prosecutor is not going after Trump's children. He is going after the top executives of the Trump Organization.

?? Donald Jr. & Eric are top executives and defendants.

The distinction being that they are not being called into court because as his children, who may have discussed Daddy's crimes with him at the dinner table, they have knowledge of Daddy's crimes. They are being called into court because as executives of TFG's company, who may have committed crimes along side him or witnessed others so doing, they have knowledge of TFG's crimes. At least, I think that's what Noblepa was going for.

Exactly.

[Sam the Centipede]

Here's a good wrap up of the day.
https://themessenger.com/politics/trump ... a-evidence

From that article:

Ivanka Trump was originally named as a defendant, until she succeeded in dismissing the claims against her on appeal under the statute of limitations. She has argued that she should not be forced to testify because of her dismissal from the case and her move to Florida.

So if Ivanka is dragged to the witness stand, she cannot use possible self-incrimination as ground to refuse to testify, yes? Does this make her even more valuable as a witness?

[Kendra]

Interesting tidbit heard during a legal eagle discussion on CNN. Apparently, the Trump lawyers will not be questioning Junior and Eric, to lesson any unwelcome surprises. Prosecutors will likely challenge any claims made with later witnesses, documents and emails and stuff. Guess we'll know soon enough about the questioning. Monday should be fun when tfg takes the stand

[Uninformed]

Junior appears to be relying on repeating “I trusted our accountants etc”. Isn’t it the case that the Directors bear legal responsibility for signing of the accounts as true and accurate?

[Kendra]

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/ ... index.html

During Thursday's questioning, Donald Trump Jr. repeatedly said that he relied on his accountants and was not involved with the preparations of financial statements for his father, even though he signed them as a trustee of the former president's trust.

As a trustee of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust starting in 2017, Trump Jr. signed certifications for annual financial submittals required for Trump Organization loans at Deutsche Bank for the Old Post Office, Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago and Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Florida.

Assistant Attorney General Colleen Faherty pressed Trump Jr. on whether he intended for the bank to use the information he had signed was accurate.

"I’m fine with the bank relying on that information," Trump Jr. said in response. "I don’t know that I intended for them to do anything. I’m signing off on it. It’s not a simple yes or no."
Faherty asked Trump Jr. several questions about the 2017 statement of financial condition and the supporting data spreadsheets accompanying those financial statements. After Trump Jr. said he had no knowledge of the preparation of those documents, she condensed her questioning about the financial statements 2018 through 2020.

“I think we can save ourselves a lot of time,” Trump Jr. said, confirming his answers would be the same for every year. He didn’t prepare the financial statements, and when he certified them as a trustee, he relied on the Trump Organization accounting and legal teams that he said would have assured him they were accurate to sign.

“Rinse and repeat,” he said.

[Kendra]

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/ ... index.html

Assistant Attorney General Colleen Faherty introduced the Trump Organization’s 2023 sale agreement with Bally’s Corporation for the company’s city licensing agreement of Donald Trump’s golf course in the Bronx, New York.

Faherty said the property, Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point Park, can be considered for disgorgement because the Trump Org. submitted annual financial attestations about Trump’s net worth to maintain the license based on the fraudulent financial statements.

Disgorgement is the repayment of ill-gotten gains based on the wrongdoing at issue in a civil case, which the court can order defendants to pay as a penalty.

Engoron overruled objections from Trump’s attorneys, arguing that the deal is irrelevant to the case.

Faherty asked Trump. Jr how much was made on the sale.

“I didn’t make anything,” Trump Jr. responded, laughing when Faherty asked how much he made.

Trump Jr. clarified the sale was for $60 million, but he doesn’t know what the company profited after expenses.

Trump Jr. was also asked about his signature on an agreement with Cushman & Wakefield, a firm hired to conduct an appraisal for the Trump Organization as it was considering a conservation easement on a portion of the Briarcliff Golf Course in Westchester, New York.

Earlier in the trial, an executive with Cushman & Wakefield testified at length about his conversations with Eric Trump about the value the firm placed on the property, which was much lower than the value the Trump Organization assigned to the property in its financial statements.

Trump Jr. said he signed the document because of his role as a senior executive, but he deferred to Eric Trump, who is expected to take the stand next.

"It was his project. He worked on it. He would know the details," Trump Jr testified.

[Kendra]

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/ ... index.html

Assistant attorney general Andrew Amer quickly got to the heart of the civil fraud case once Donald Trump's son Eric Trump took the stand, asking him about his knowledge of his father’s financial statements

Former Trump Org. Controller Jeffrey McConney, a co-defendant, notated two phone calls with Eric Trump in support of the valuation for the Seven Springs property in Westchester County, New York, which McConney included in his data for the 2013 financial statement.

Eric Trump said he didn’t’ remember the calls, but also said he doesn’t have a reason to doubt they happened if McConney wrote it in the spreadsheet. He added that he didn’t work on his father’s statement of financial condition.

“People ask me questions all the time but I never worked on the statement of financial condition,” Eric Trump said.

“I never worked on it at the time, and I didn't know anything about it really until this case came into fruition," he added.

Eric Trump confirmed he ran the daily operations of the Trump Organization with his brother Donald Jr. and chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg when his father became president in 2017.

[Maybenaut]

The number of things the executives of this company don’t know about its operations is astonishing.

[p0rtia]

Astonishing...and intentional.

It reeks of fraud.

Which I guess was your point.

[Dr. Ken]

https://x.com/kylegriffin1/status/17201 ... 06371?s=20
ugh direct linking to dumb twitter no longer works

Screenshot 2023-11-02 133739.png (24.77 KiB) Viewed 2057 times

[Kendra]

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/ ... index.html

Assistant Attorney General Andrew Amer’s examination of Eric Trump grew tense just before the lunch break as the son of the former president grew visibly agitated when pressed about his understanding of his father’s financial statements that were used to support real estate transactions.

Amer used a series of emails dating as far back as 2010 and phone conversations to argue that Eric Trump was familiar with the statements, contradicting his testimony.

For instance, there was a series of February 2012 emails regarding the purchase of a golf club in Charlotte, North Carolina, which referenced a club board member reviewing personal financial statements at the Trump Organization's New York office to ensure the club board of the company's ability to run the club. In the email, Eric Trump expressed his concern over the confidentiality of the financial information to the board member.

Amer pushed Eric Trump to acknowledge that, based on the written exchange, he must have known by 2012 that his father had personal financial statements used to support real estate transactions. Eric Trump asserted that the records shown in court don’t prove that the board member reviewed the statements of financial condition at issue in the civil case.

“I understand we had financials as a company,” Eric Trump said. “I was not personally aware of the statement of financial condition. I did not work on the of financial condition. I’ve been very, very clear on that.”

[tek]

Who worked on the financial statements?

not_me.gif (64.17 KiB) Viewed 2039 times

[noblepa]

So if Ivanka is dragged to the witness stand, she cannot use possible self-incrimination as ground to refuse to testify, yes? Does this make her even more valuable as a witness?

No, she CAN invoke her fifth amendment right against self-incrimination. However this is a civil trial, not a criminal one. In a civil trial, the trier of fact (a jury, or, in this case, Judge Engoran) is allowed to draw a negative inference from doing so.

IOW, if the prosecutor asks "Did you commit a crime?" and she invokes the fifth, the judge is free to regard that answer as a Yes.

[Sam the Centipede]

Thanks, I didn't take into account that this is civil, not criminal. Whoops.

[Kendra]

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/ ... index.html

Former President Donald Trump is not happy, to say the least, that his sons Don Jr. and Eric have had to take the stand today in the fraud trial.

“So sad to see my sons being PERSECUTED in a political Witch Hunt by this out of control, publicity seeking, New York State Judge, on a case that should have NEVER been brought,” Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social.

Trump also escalated his ongoing criticism of state Attorney General Letitia James in crude terms.

The former president is expected to testify on Monday.

[sugar magnolia]

It sounds like their whole defense is "we have no idea what the financial statement says so we just make up some numbers."

[raison de arizona]

Today, we heard testimony from Donald Trump's sons and co-defendants, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.

They pretend that they were not involved in their family's fraudulent business.

But the facts tell a very different story.

[chancery]

Here's a link for Ivanka Trump's motion to the Appellate Division, First Department seeking a stay of Judge Engoron order requiring her to testify at trial until resolution of her appeal.

https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef ... UL/4asjw==

The 32 page brief starts at page 5 of the pdf.

There are some presumably substantive issues about the validity of service of the subpoena, which was made not on Ivanka personally, but on the corporations with which she is affiliated. Doing business in New York can be sufficient grounds for service of process and requiring attendance at trial. Whether it's appropriate here seems plausible to me based on a quick skim through Judge Engoron's decision denying the motion to quash, but I have no informed opinion and I'm not interested enough to read the papers and look up some cases.

Law twitter is having fun with this sentence in her brief:

...Ms. Trump, who resides in Florida with her three minor children, will suffer undue hardship if a stay is denied and she is required to testify at trial in New York in the middle of a school week, in a case she has already been dismissed from, before her appeal is heard.

As is typical in New York State practice, the packet of motion papers totals over 428 pages, much of which is the record: the complaint, prior proceedings, in the course of which the claims against her were dismissed, etc. Of some potential interest are fairly lengthy transcripts of the arguments before Judge Engoron, which weren't previously in the docket.

Lemme know if you find anything interesting.