The Trump Organization executive who burst into tears in the witness box testified Tuesday that an inaccurate email was to blame for overvaluing Donald Trump’s penthouse by more than $100 million, according to a new report.
Former controller Jeffrey McConney told the court his valuation relied on a Trump Organization broker who misrepresented the size of the Trump Tower home, ABC News reports.
"I figured he knew the property a lot better than I did," McConney reportedly testified. “I would rely on him.”
The Trump Tower penthouse is at the heart of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ $250 million lawsuit, which contends the Trumps defrauded lenders by inflating the value of their holdings.
The Trumps deny wrongdoing.
But Trump and his associates were found liable in Judge Arthur Engoron’s summary judgment, which said the penthouse — incorrectly listed at 30,000 square feet — had been overvalued.
McConney reportedly said he spent little time in Trump’s apartment.
A co-defendant in Donald Trump's $250 million fraud lawsuit burst into tears on the witness stand Tuesday, according to reporters in the courtroom.
Jeffrey McConney became sentimental when asked about leaving the Trump Organization, according to New York Daily News' courts reporter Molly Crane-Newman.
"I got to do a lot of things that a normal accountant wouldn't be able to," McConney said, according to Crane-Newman.
She added the retired controller spoke nostalgically, and was "dabbing his eyes with a tissue."
Messenger reporter Adam Klasberg notes a court officer provided the tissue, and that both Judge Arthur Engoron and the attorney general's prosecutor asked McConney if he was okay.
McConney is among several co-defendants named in Attorney General Letitia James' civil complaint that contends the Trump Organization inflated its value to defraud lenders and investors. Trump and his associates have already been found liable for fraud in a summary judgment, making the trial largely about deciding damages.
An ex-Trump Organization executive admitted on the stand Tuesday that former President Donald Trump’s Florida base Mar-a-Lago was valued as a private residence instead of a social club, according to reports.
The Mar-a-Lago valuation is a key part of Attorney General Letitia James’ $250 million lawsuit that claims Trump Organization leadership defrauded lenders and investors by inflating the worth of company holdings, notes Messenger reporter Adam Klasfeld.
The company's former controller and co-defendant Jeffrey McConney took the stand Tuesday to defend Trump Org.'s valuations, among them Mar-a-Lago, according to Law360 reporter Stewart Bishop.
"Our intention was always to reflect as best we could the value of these properties," McConney said, according to Bishop.
McConney reportedly testified he could not remember why the “ultra exclusive” Mar-a-Lago Club — which boasts a restaurant, beach club, spa and a “sumptuous” grand ballroom — was valued as a residence, reporters said.
James contends this was an act of fraud meant to circumvent property restrictions that limited development and, therefore, the value of the land.
Trump attorney Jesus Suarez submitted evidence showing that Mar-a-Lago’s valuation dropped between 2014 and 2015 from about $405 million to $347 million, according to Klasfeld.
McConney also took the stand Monday to refute the testimony of an outside accountant who said the Trump Organization controller withheld financial documents.
McConney is the lone witness scheduled to testify before a Thanksgiving break, ABC News reports.
Trump keeps yelling "Fire!" into crowded theaters, according to former RNC chair Michael Steele.
"It just tells you how Donald Trump has twisted everything into a knot — this is all deliberate behavior," former RNC chair Michael Steele told an MSNBC host. "It's all about trying to bend the system to his will, to his direction."
Former President Donald Trump's attempt to remain unmuzzled was argued in a Court of Appeals hearing on Monday, with the judges grilling his attorney, John Sauer, to explain his legal position to quit the gag order imposed to prevent disparaging court officers and unveiling critical information in the 2020 federal election interference case.
Steele maintains that the 45th president is creating a distracting sideshow by intentionally "confusing political speech" on his platform TruthSocial.
Trump was rebuked last month after calling out Alison Greenfield, the principal law clerk to New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, was the girlfriend of Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), and pointed the finger at her for directing the $250 million fraud case filed against him being prosecuted by New York Attorney General Letitia James' team.
"Schumer’s girlfriend, [name], is running this case against me," Trump posted on Truth Social. "How disgraceful!"
He then claimed her involvement warranted the case "be dismissed immediately!!"
Steele believes the power of Trump's typing thumbs from what may seem like an innocuous post can inspire others to act on it.
"At the end of the day, what the judges — the data here is the thread, the actions that followers take when they hear the hot rhetoric coming from him, what Trump is using is extensively using the first amendment to wrap himself in to say that 'I can say these things and that I'm not responsible for any of the consequences that come because it is all political.'"
"It's not."
He goes on: "The person who goes after a judge or goes after a clerk, or a prosecutor stalks them at home is no different than yelling 'Fire!' in a crowded theater."
In the end the words slung by Trump are actionable and carry a lot of weight.
"There is a consequence from your words," Steele said. "People are harmed or potentially harmed. That is what the system is trying to safeguard against, protecting his rights at the same time trying to protect the rest of us from him."
"That is really what it boils down to. That's the balancing act that the court finds itself in trying to strike this unique balance because we have a political actor who is distorting what is otherwise, in the past, has been when it comes to behavior and politicians," he explained.
An expert witness bemoaned Monday as a “waste of time” was quickly tripped up by a state attorney prosecuting Donald Trump’s $250 million civil fraud trial, according to reports.
Andrew Amer told underwriting expert David Miller his testimony about insurers’ reliance on media coverage contradicted a previous report of his own, according to ABC News.
On the stand, Miller denied having seen insurance underwriters rely on media outlets before the Zurich insurance company cited reports from Forbes and USA Today in a 2021 review of Trump policies, ABC News reported.
But Amer pointed out Miller's own report stated, "Some underwriters do not require financials and instead use their experience and other means (such as Forbes and USA Today) to satisfy their underwriting needs."
A New York State attorney ridiculed one of former President Donald Trump’s expert witnesses Monday as nothing more than a “waste of time,” ABC News reports.
According to ABC News, this message landed with Judge Arthur Engoron, who also criticized Miller after the witness detailed his professional experience.
"I don't see why you're an expert in what was just said," Engoron said.
Miller was called in to testify that Zurich insurance company worked with the Trump Organization to protect a relationship with a broker, therefore suggesting inflated financial statements had little impact on the company’s dealings.
Those inflated financial statements are at the heart of James’ $250 million civil complaint, in which she contends the Trumps defrauded lenders and investors by inflating the value of company holdings. The judge has already found Trump and his associates liable for fraud, meaning the trial is largely to decide damages.
Trump, who denies wrongdoing, began mounting his defense earlier this month with a slew of experts called in to testify that Trump Organization practices were business as usual.
James, on the other hand, argues the experts are little more than golf course pals and members of Trump's Mar-a-Lago club doing a friend a favor.
“We heard testimony from their many expert witnesses, but they weren’t real experts,” James said Friday.
“We did learn something,” James said with a smile. “Several of these experts are longtime friends and golf buddies of Donald Trump.”
Former President Donald Trump's history of racist rhetoric has been amplified over the course of his political career. In an August report, PBS News notes the 2024 MAGA hopeful "has used terms such as 'animal' and 'rabid' to describe Black district attorneys. He has accused Black prosecutors of being 'racist.' He has made unsupported claims about their personal lives. And on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump has deployed terms that rhyme with racial slurs as some of his supporters post racist screeds about the same targets."
During Sunday's episode of MSNBC's Velshi, guest host Charles Coleman Jr. spoke with Yale University professor of philosophy Jason Stanley about the ways race has shown up amid Trump's legal troubles.
"Donald Trump is no stranger to attacking his political enemies," Coleman said. "But is it fair to say — because this it's something I've watched and other people have noticed — that when it comes to people like [Manhattan District Attorney] Alvin Bragg, like [Fulton County District Attorney] Fani Willis, like [New York Attorney General] Letitia James, for example, that his attacks carry a different level of vitriol than when it comes to talking about a [ex-Vice President] Mike Pence, for example, or even a [ex-House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Is that a fair observation? And if so, what does that tell us?"
Stanley replied, "Contempt for the rule of law, in the first instance. Race, of course, the idea of a woman holding him to account. Because there's a kind of hierarchy in Donald Trump's vision. It's the hierarchy that he's appealing to, and it's very appealing. Patriarchy — the idea that a wealthy white man, macho businessman, should be able to do what he wants, is above the law, is not subject to white people, to women or African Americans. Because that violates what he regards as the natural hierarchy, and many of his supporters do too. And this brings in both men of any race, and it brings in white nationalists.
He continued, "This idea of hierarchy — democracy is committed to the rule of law, and what that means is that anyone, Black or white, woman or man, non-binary person, who is in that position as a judge, is and has the sacred duty of democracy and protecting the rule of law. So the contempt that he is showing is an attack on the equality that democracy, that democratic rule brings. The attack on the rule of law, and he's saying it's racial and gender hierarchy, 'and me, I'm your macho leader who is the real law.'"
Speaking with host Ayman Mohyeldin about yet another attack by the former president on the judge and AG, Steele bluntly stated, "Put his ass in jail," to send the former president a message.
In total, Steele exclaimed, "It's enormously dangerous. I just — I'm shocked that we have allowed this to get this far. I'm just going to use my best analysis that I can give you at this point on this situation with Trump, and the attacks on the judges: put his ass in jail. That's how you end it. That's how it stops."
"Now, yeah, people will be mad, they will be upset. But there is no other person on this planet, certainly not in this country, who would be given the kind of grace that Donald Trump has been given to run his mouth the way he has," he continued. "Attacking the clerks, attacking the judges, attacking the prosecutors, personally, threatening them."
"We've shown the evidence when he does that how his base responds," he elaborated. "And so the system is getting pulverized from within by Trump, and is being pressed to the umpteenth corner that it can go in trying to appease him, and allow him to be free while he is still behaving this way."
"So, if he wants to continue in this vein, then use the system the way the system would be used against all of us on the show right now," he suggested. "Because you know damn well, any one of us, if we said half of what he said, we would not be on air tonight. We would be in a jail cell. We would be shut down."
Donald Trump on Saturday continued his persistent attacks on the law clerk for the judge in the ex-president's civil fraud trial, calling her "crooked" and insisting that she be prosecuted.
Trump, who earlier in the day shared an article that included photographs and the full name of the law clerk, has continued the attacks on her and Judge Engoron following the stay of a gag order that prohibited such insults that could put court staff lives at risk.
In his recent post on Truth Social, the former president claims that Engoron, his law clerk, and the prosecutor should actually be prosecuted.
"The Judge committed FRAUD in my Trial by valuing my assets at a tiny fraction of what they are really worth in order to make his FAKE CASE against me - And everyone, including his crooked and highly partisan Law Clerk, Allison Greenfield, and Racist A.G. Letitia James, knows it," Trump wrote Saturday. "The Judicial System in New York State is in chaos and disrepute over this horribly handled Persecution of a Political Opponent. The World is watching this illegal Witch Hunt. Engoron, James, and Greenfield should be sanctioned and prosecuted over this complete and very obvious MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE!!!"
Trump made the disparaging comments about an hour before appearing on stage in Iowa, where he spoke before the Iowa Commit to Caucus Event in Fort Dodge.
Some legal and political experts have suggested it's a bad idea for Trump to continue attacking the law clerk while the gag order is temporarily stayed, while others have suggested he is trying to anger the judge and provoke a reaction in order to get a mistrial.
Donald Trump on Saturday continued his attacks on the law clerk who sits beside the judge in the ex-president's civil fraud case, sharing an article that would likely be violative of a gag order that is currently stayed pending appeal.
After the gag order was temporarily lifted by the appeals court, Trump within hours insulted the law clerk, calling her biased and "out of control." Some experts have cautioned Trump away from continuing the attacks despite the stayed gag order, while others have suggested Trump is trying to "provoke the judge" in the hopes of getting a mistrial.
On Saturday, Trump continued sharing material that would likely violate the order. In this case, it was an article that includes multiple photos of the law clerk as well as her full name.
In posting the article, Trump quoted its headline: "Engoron’s ‘Co-Judge’ Law Clerk, Allison Greenfield, Attended Anti-Trump Events Endorsing Biden & Tish James, Spurred on By Impeachment Leader Dan Goldman.”
The article suggests that the law clerk has been "involved with leading anti-Trump organizations in New York City, and has even been caught on camera attending the 'Fall Event' of a group called the 'Grand Street Democrats' in October 2022."
"Greenfield – whose partisan activities were the basis for Judge Arthur Engoron’s now-overturned gag order against President Donald Trump – has been advising Engoron throughout the case, notably glaring at Trump and rolling her eyes during presentations by Trump’s lawyers, according to in-court witnesses," the article states. "Footage posted to the Judicial Protest X account early November shows Greenfield at the Grand St Dems event where speakers and the organization itself endorsed Attorney General Letitia James, whose partisan campaigning sparked the case against Trump in the first instance."
The article goes on to make claims about the purported "highly partisan activity."
"This level of involvement in highly partisan activity is wildly unusual for a law clerk, especially one presiding over a trial of a former president and current presidential candidate running against the very people Greenfield is heard cheering on in the video."
Donald Trump took to his struggling Truth Social platform on Saturday morning to once again snarl at Judge Arthur Engoron and New York Attorney General Letitia James, saying that they are conspiring to make him "look bad" by claiming his properties aren't as valuable as he claims.
In what has become an almost daily tirade, the former president cast aspersions on Engoron's legal acumen while also calling James a racist.
With Engoron's gag order in the $250 million financial fraud trial on pause, Trump took advantage by writing, "Judge Arthur Engoron, the most overturned and stayed Judge in the State, and the Racist New York State Attorney General, the most corrupt & incompetent A.G. in the Country (Violent Crime Is Raging!), have FRAUDULENTLY Undervalued my properties, by many times, in order to make me look bad, and make the Judge’s original ridiculous finding of Fraud pass the 'smell test,' which it does not."
He then added, "This Judicial and Prosecutorial corruption and misconduct took place BEFORE THE TRIAL EVEN STARTED, & WITHOUT ANY KNOWLEDGE OF THE CASE. Judge Engoron just did what the highly partisan A.G. told him to do. He is her complete and total puppet!"
Attorney General Letitia James took to social media Friday night to throw some snark at Donald Trump: That wasn’t a defense, she said, that was golf buddies.
James, the State prosecutor leading the charge in Trump’s $250 million civil lawsuit, ridiculed the panel of expert defense witnesses she said failed to refute the key charges in her fraud case.
“We heard testimony from their many expert witnesses, but they weren’t real experts,” James said.
“We did learn something,” James said with a smile. “Several of these experts are longtime friends and golf buddies of Donald Trump.”
Without naming names, James went down the roster and explained why she found each witness’s testimony less than compelling.
“Their accounting expert has never once worked on the types of financial statements at the heart of Donald Trump’s fraud,” James said.
“Their expert on real estate finance admitted that he not only lacks experience in valuing real estate, but he also does not have any experience with the accounting standards and personal financial statements that this case revolves around.”
James’ brief statement then details the credential they did share: proximity to Donald Trump.
“One has donated millions of dollars to Donald Trump’s campaign and his son even got married at Mar-a-Lago,” said James. “Another is a member of Mar-a-Lago and several other Trump golf clubs."
“We have presented the facts and the facts don’t lie,” James concluded. "Not one of their experts disproved that.”
New York Judge Arthur Engoron has denied former President Donald Trump's motion for a mistrial in the civil fraud case against him and his two adult sons.
In a filing released on Friday, Engoron declared the motion "utterly without merit" and refused to even schedule a hearing to discuss it, dismissing it out of hand.
In his motion, Trump had claimed that Engoron was too biased to decide the trial fairly. He has previously attacked Engoron's court clerk and suggested that she was pulling the strings in the trial against him.
Engoron had placed the former president under a gag order restricting him from attacking officers of the court, and was fined twice for violating it. However, this week, an appeals court lifted that gag order pending review.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the fraud lawsuit, accuses Trump and his two adult sons of systematically lying about the value of the Trump Organization's assets in order to get more favorable loan and tax arrangements.
She is seeking hundreds of millions in damages and the dissolution of the Trump Organization entities in New York. Engoron has already ruled for James in summary judgment, leaving the remainder of the trial about determining damages.
