NEW YORK — A Trump Organization employee said in state court Monday that the company’s top financial officer told him between 2017 and 2019 that Donald Trump wanted his net worth increased, testimony that could help bolster the New York attorney general’s $250 million civil fraud case against the former president.
Patrick Birney, a financial operations executive who helped assess the value of Trump properties and other real estate assets, said his boss, Allen Weisselberg, told him at a meeting that Trump wanted his wealth boosted in financial statements. Those statements of financial condition were compiled annually and distributed to lenders and insurance companies for a variety of business purposes.
Eric R. Haren, a lawyer with the attorney general’s office, asked Birney about marching orders that were allegedly conveyed to him during Trump’s presidency, while Trump’s namesake company was being run by his two adult sons and other executives.
“Did Allen Weisselberg ever tell you that Mr. Trump wanted his net worth on the [statements] to go up?” Haren asked on direct examination.
“Yes,” Birney said. “I think that happened in [Weisselberg’s] office.”
There was no additional testimony about that meeting or Birney’s understanding of what it meant.
Last year, New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) sued Trump, his adult sons, his company and two longtime employees, including Weisselberg, alleging a vast fraud that involved illegal conduct and deception. James is seeking the recovery of $250 million in allegedly ill-gotten gains and restrictions that would essentially cripple Trump’s ability to continue conducting business in the state.
New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron has already ruled in James’s favor on the issue of whether fraud was broadly committed. As part of that pretrial ruling, Engoron set in motion the beginning of a receivership process and the ultimate dissolution of Trump Organization entities that are chartered in New York state. Those charters were ordered revoked.
Legal experts have said the ruling could mean that Trump loses control of his properties, including Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, where the company is based and where he keeps a penthouse residence.
Lawyers for the attorney general’s office contend that specific criminal acts were committed to advance the fraud. The civil case cannot result in criminal convictions or prison time for any of the individuals named as defendants.
Trump and his attorneys, who deny any wrongdoing, maintain that nothing was amiss in the company’s practices, that differences of opinion over commercial real estate values are routine and that the parties that received values from the Trump Organization did not rely on the statements in their decision-making.
The trial opened in New York Supreme Court on Oct. 2 with Trump making an appearance for three consecutive days.
In the hallway, the Republican candidate for president in 2024 repeatedly railed against the judge and the attorney general. A partial gag order was imposed after Trump posted identifying and false information about a court staffer on social media.
Trump may return to court Tuesday. His appearance was originally expected to coincide with the testimony of his former attorney Michael Cohen, but Cohen is now expected to testify at another time.
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Employee testifies of alleged requests to increase Trump's net worth - The Washington Post
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