The drama increased on Thursday as former President Donald Trump appeared in court for the New York fraud trial in which his defense team is battling to keep expected fines as low as possible.
MSNBC's legal analyst Lisa Rubin and Law360's Stewart Bishop revealed that an unexpected spat broke out between lawyers before the lunch break.
NYU accounting professor Eli Bartov was on the stand when Trump's lawyer, Jesus M. Suarez, questioned him about a disclaimer that Trump put in his financial statement documents.
“The estimates presented herein are not necessarily predictive of the amounts that could be realized upon the disposition of the assets or the payments of the related liabilities,” one disclaimer says.
“This statement simply ... provides another warning to the user that again they should not rely on the raw data that’s produced in this statement, but they should do their own analysis,” Bartov says. “If you want to defraud someone, you don’t give this type of warning."
“Estimated current value is an opinion about value,” Bartov says. “Because this opinion is a prediction of the future, and no one can predict the future.”
“If a student walked into your class and suggested these statements were prepared for the benefit of [the preparer], what would you [do]?” Suarez asks.
“I would kick them out of my class immediately,” Bartov says.
“Why is that?” Suarez asks.
“Because it's absurd,” Bartov says.
Bishop said that it was part of the prosecution's case that the disclaimers on Trump's statements ensure accountants preparing the financial statements would be relieved of any kind of obligation that "they'd otherwise adhere to, for say, an audit," Bishop described
“The only criteria [under GAAP] for financial statements is what works for the user,” Bartov says. “There is no provision in GAAP that says to the preparer, use this information to protect yourself. It doesn’t exist."
That's when Kevin Wallace from the attorney general's office objected to Bartov's comments that he said went beyond the scope of his expertise.
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Bartov became enraged, assuming it meant he didn't know what he was talking about.
“You ought to be ashamed of yourself for making a claim like that,” Bartov shouted, pointing to Wallace.
According to Rubin, Bartov believed that Wallace was "impugning his truthfulness."
Judge Arthur Engoron told the men to calm down and called for a lunch break where folks could cool off.
