'No question' Trump Tower penthouse price was inflated: defense witness
An expert witness for Donald Trump in his $250 million fraud trial Thursday testified there was “no question” about the swollen valuation of former president’s Manhattan triplex, according to reports.
Accounting expert Eli Bartov told the court Trump had added about $100 million to the value of his Trump Tower triplex in statements of financial condition between 2011 and 2012, ABC News reports.
“The price was inflated,” Bartov reportedly said. “There is no question about it.”
But Bartov, an accounting professor at NYU, was quick to credit the inflated price to accounting errors and argued if Trump had committed fraud he would have worked harder to hide it, ABC News reports.
Financial documents reported that the Fifth Avenue apartment was three times the size it actually is — roughly 10,000 square feet, according to evidence presented in court.
"There is no evidence here of concealment," Bartov reportedly said. "This is an error. But it is no fraud."
Bartov instead cast blame on an external accounting firm that should have caught in an audit the leap in price from $80 million to $180 million, the report notes.
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The Messenger reporter Adam Klasfeld reports Bartov was dismissive of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit, which contends Trump and his sons defrauded lenders by inflating the value of their assets.
“My main finding is that there is no evidence whatsoever of any accounting fraud,” Bartov reportedly said.
Justice Arthur Engoron has already found Trump, who denies wrongdoing, liable for fraud. The trial’s work is to assess damages.