30-year-old document incriminates Trump in fraud trial

In 1994, the former president correctly stated the size of his New York apartment. In subsequent financial statements, it was suddenly three times larger. His former CFO claims the discrepancy simply went unnoticed.

Former US President Donald Trump may have deliberately exaggerated the size of his New York apartment in financial reports. In the fraud trial against the 77-year-old, a document he signed in 1994 that stated the true size of the property was introduced into evidence on Tuesday. Later, the penthouse nearly tripled its size.

In the civil case, Trump is accused of misrepresenting assets in financial documents in order to obtain better terms from banks and insurance companies. The proceedings began following a lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who accused Trump and his company, the Trump Organization, of fraud.

Misrepresentations to get better loans

Allen Weisselberg, Trump’s former chief financial officer, testified Tuesday about the allegations. The evidence provided was an email attachment that listed the property as about 1,000 square feet, rather than about 2,800 square feet, as was the case in later documents Trump submitted to close deals and secure loans.

Weisselberg said he remembered looking at the email and not the attachment, because the attachments were documents that were already in his file at the company’s offices. However, he did not pay special attention to the size of the apartment because its value was only a small part of Trump’s assets. He never thought about it.

Trump’s CFO can’t remember anything

He only discovered this contradiction when a Forbes reporter pointed it out in 2016. At first, he objected to the outlet’s findings. It is no longer known whether he had ordered anyone to look into the matter. Despite everything, Trump’s annual financial statements for 2016, which were published in 2017, mentioned the exaggerated size of the property.

Weisselberg, who testified as a prosecution witness, is also a defendant in the case. He took the stand after recently serving time in prison for evading taxes on cash benefits, such as a condo and luxury cars, he earned while working for Trump. James accuses him of manipulating Trump’s financial reports at Trump’s direction so they would show higher assets. Trump denies any wrongdoing.

dpa