Tomorrow: Defense Begins In Trump’s NY Fraud Trial

The Washington Post reports:

When the defense begins presenting its own case, Donald Trump Jr., Trump’s oldest son — who is a defendant in the case, as is his brother, Eric Trump — will return to the stand as the defense’s first witness. Trump’s attorneys are expected to argue that his financial statements were legitimate, that valuations are subjective and that Trump properties were worth a fortune.

None of the banks were duped, because they did not rely on the statements to verify Trump’s worthiness as a business partner, the defense says. A pretrial ruling by Engoron remains potentially momentous in the case — albeit with questions about its ultimate meaning.

In the Sept. 26 ruling, Engoron ordered all of Trump’s “business certificates” in the state be canceled. The decision arrived like an earthquake, clearly putting Trump at risk of losing control over his New York empire. But its wording left attorneys to argue what precisely it meant for his company.

Read the full article.

New York Attorney General Letitia James’s $250 million or more civil case against Donald Trump and others alleges they inflated values on financial statements. https://t.co/okpjSfgCot

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) November 12, 2023