Donald Trump pumped up his net worth as a vanity project – to climb up Forbes’ list of billionaires – and also so he could save millions on loan and insurance terms, the New York Attorney General’s Office claimed at the start of the former president’s $250 million civil fraud trial Monday.
Trump, 77, stared intently – occasionally shaking his head – as lawyers from AG Letitia James’ office played an apparently damning deposition clip from the ex-president’s one-time “fixer” Michael Cohen, who is expected to be a major witness at the trial.
“Beyond just a place on the Forbes billionaire list, defendants knew that a high net worth is necessary to obtain and maintain certain financial benefits,” attorney Kevin Wallace said during his opening remarks in a packed courtroom in lower Manhattan.
Trump and his co-defendants – including the Trump Organization and his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr. – lied “year after year after year” on financial statements to inflate the value of their assets, Wallace said.
A brief clip of Cohen’s deposition was played for Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron – who is deciding the trial, rather than a jury – in which the convicted felon said Trump coached him and former Trump Org Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg to lie about his worth.
“Mr. Trump would call Allen and I into the office and say he was worth $6 billion,” Cohen said on the video. “‘I think I’m actually worth $8 billion.’ Allen and I would take the assets and increase the asset classes in order to accommodate that $8 billion number.”
“The goal was to use each of the assets and increase its value in order to get to the end result number,” Cohen said in the recording.
In one instance, the defendants allegedly lied about the size of the ex-president’s triplex apartment at Trump Tower, saying it was 30,000 square feet, when it actually measured just 11,000 square feet, Wallace said.
Deposition clips from Trump and his sons were also played in court, in which they all claimed they didn’t have direct involvement in the statements of financial conditions that the AG claims were falsified from 2011 through 2021.
“Defendants are left to answer the classic question, are you lying now or were you lying then?” Wallace told the court. “We have direct evidence that people involved in the scheme conspired to inflate the defendant’s wealth.”
James – sitting in the front row of the gallery – looked on as the openings were delivered. She and Trump, who could be seen scowling as he sat at a table flanked by his attorneys, did not appear to make eye contact. Eric Trump, the Trump Org’s executive vice president, observed from the second row.
In one 2011 email cited by Wallace, Trump sent a Deutsche Bank employee records about his financial standing and wrote “Hopefully, you will be impressed.”
The attorney said the email was proof of the real estate mogul’s vanity – and also ensured that he could get into a special program by the bank for people worth $3 billion or more that came with special interest rates.
Others at the Trump Org knew of Trump’s pride over his wealth, Wallace said, quoting the company’s Assistant Vice President of Financial Operations Patrick Birney.
“He likes to see it go up,” Birney allegedly said about Trump’s net worth.
Wallace concluded his remarks by emphasizing to the judge that “these are not victimless crimes.”
Trump lawyer Christopher Kise, in his opening statement, quickly took aim at Cohen’s credibility.
“The government hinges its proof of conspiracy on a serial liar,” Kise charged.
Wallace had tried in his remarks to address the Trump camp’s main defense that Cohen can’t be trusted, telling the judge his “testimony is corroborated with other evidence in the case.”
Trump’s attorney also challenged the AG’s claim that the ex-president pumped up his worth by as much as $3.6 billion a year – saying he was in fact worth billions.
“President Trump has made billions of dollars building one of the most successful real estate empires in the world, he has made a fortune on being right about real estate investments,” Kise said.
He attempted to debunk the argument that the crimes weren’t victimless by claiming that the banks made “well over $100 million” off of his client’s accounts and adding that all the loans were repaid.
Trump lawyer Alina Habba echoed Kise’s message, in her opening remarks, loudly declaring: “These are sophisticated banks.”
“These banks made money. They were not defrauded,” Habba told the court. “That is not fraud. That is real estate.”
The trial – which is expected to last through Dec. 27 – began with Engoron rejecting the media’s request to live stream the proceedings.
The case is expected to see witnesses including Trump, Eric, Don Jr., Ivanka, Weisselberg and Cohen. But Cohen’s testimony is likely to be pivotal to helping prove James’ case.
The 45th president and James gave dueling statements before the trial began Monday around 10:30 a.m.
“We have a racist attorney general who is a horror show who ran on the basis that she’s going to get trump before she knew anything about me,” Trump blasted, of the black AG, as he stood just outside of the courtroom. “It’s a scam, it’s a sham. Just so you know my financial statements are phenomenal.”
Trump – wearing a navy blue suit, light blue shirt and royal blue tie – also called Engoron a “rogue judge” and said the trial “is a continuation of the greatest witch hunt.”
Upon entering the courthouse James “My message is simple — no matter how powerful you are, no matter how much money you think you may have, no one is above the law.
“It is my responsibility and my duty and my job to enforce it. The law is both powerful and fragile and today in court we will prove our case.
Trump protesters showed up in force Monday holding signs and even blocking the street outside of the courthouse.
Additional reporting by Desheania Andrews