The Manhattan judge deciding Donald Trump’s fate at his civil fraud trial on Monday again rejected the former president’s claims that Mar-a-Lago is worth $1 billion – sticking by the much-lower valuation issued by local Florida officials.
Justice Arthur Engoron, however, implored the media to stop reporting that he’d been the one to value the golf club and resort at $18 million – the low-end of a determination made by the Palm Beach assessor that has left some real estate industry insiders perplexed.
“Please, press, stop saying that I valued it at $18 million,” Engoron pleaded, as trial kicked off in Manhattan Supreme Court in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ $250 million lawsuit against the former president, the Trump Organization and sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr.
The judge interjected the comment as Trump lawyer Alina Habba had been repeating during her opening remarks that that the Palm Beach estate would sell for roughly $1 billion – a figure that Engoron rejected last week in a bombshell ruling.
In his decision, Engoron – who is deciding the trial rather than a jury – cited a local Palm Beach County official saying the country club had been assessed at a range of between $18 million and $27 million between 2011 and 2021.
In the same decision, Engoron rejected Trump’s expert’s valuation that the Florida estate was worth $1.5 billion finding the expert’s opinion “unexplained and unsubstantiated ‘dream[s.]'”
Industry experts were left scratching their heads at the Palm Beach assessor’s seemingly low estimation, claiming that the resort would list closer to $300 million.
Engoron’s ruling found Trump liable for fraud – the key claim in James’ suit – for exaggerating the worth of his assets.
He sided with the AG finding that Trump had fraudulently inflated his net worth – including with his claim that his Trump Tower triplex was 30,000 square feet when it was actually closer to 11,000.
Engoron also revoked Trump’s business licenses in the Big Apple and said a receiver needed to be appointed to wind down his companies in the Empire State.
Trump, 77, attended the first day of trial at the 60 Centre Street courthouse in lower Manhattan prompting protesters to come out in force and block a street outside the historic building.
James also attended the trial, looking on from the first row as Eric Trump – the executive vice president of Trump Org – watched from the second row.
The case is expected to last through Dec. 27 and could see witnesses testify including Trump, Don Jr., Eric, Ivanka, former Trump Org CFO Allen Weisselberg and former Trump “fixer” Michael Cohen.
In his opening statements AG’s office lawyer Kevin Wallace accused Trump of pumping up his net worth in part due to vanity and wanting to move up on Forbes’ billionaires list.
An apparently damning video clip was played of Cohen’s deposition, in which the ex-Trump lawyer described how his boss instructed him and Weisselberg to inflate his worth from $6 billion to $8 billion.
“‘I think I’m actually worth $8 billion,'” Cohen recalled Trump allegedly saying in the video.
Meanwhile Trump’s lawyers told Engoron during their opening statements that the AG’s case is based on the word of Cohen — a convicted felon.
“The government hinges its proof of conspiracy on a serial liar,” Christopher Kise charged.
Habba, meanwhile, attempted to punch holes in the AG’s argument that Trump inflated his assets to get better loan and bank terms, at the expense of the lenders and insurers.
“These banks made money. They were not defrauded,” Habba told the court. “That is not fraud. That is real estate.”
Trump blasted the case before entering the courtroom at the beginning of the day and again when he left during the lunch break.
He called it a “disgraceful trial,” at the midday break.
Additional reporting by Kyle Schnitzer