The purported value of Ivanka Trump’s Park Avenue penthouse came under scrutiny this week during testimony at trial in the New York Attorney General’s $250 million civil fraud case against the former president.
Donald Bender, a former accountant for Donald Trump at the accounting firm Mazars USA, testified in Manhattan Supreme Court Monday that he saw errors between the value listed for the posh pad on financial documents and its potential sale price.
Bender explained from the witness stand that, while he wasn’t in charge of auditing the company financials, he “from time to time” would tell Trump Organization officials that there were discrepancies on company financial documents, according to a CNN report.
He once pointed out that there was a difference in how Ivanka’s penthouse was valued on the financial documents compared to what it was listed as for a buying option for her.
The discrepancy was cited in Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit against Trump, 77, sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr., and the family company claiming that, from 2011 through 2021, they exaggerated the real estate tycoon’s net worth so he could get advantageous loan and insurance terms.
The suit states that Ivanka’s apartment in Trump Park Avenue was valued at $20.8 million on financial statements in both 2011 and 2012 despite a purchase option of $8.5 million in the lease.
Her rental agreement laid out that she could have purchased the pad for “substantially below the market rent for similar units in the building,” according to the suit.
Ivanka had previously been a defendant on the lawsuit until a June appeals court ruling dismissed the charges against her since they fell outside of the statute of limitations.
She and the three other Trump family members in the case are all listed as witnesses and could be called to testify at the trial, which kicked off Monday and is expected to last until late December.
Mazars split with the Trump Org in 2022 finding that Trump’s “Statements of Financial Condition” from 2011 through 2020 “should no longer be relied on.”
Bender resumed his testimony Tuesday – with Trump again in attendance in the courtroom in lower Manhattan, wearing a blue suit, red tie and white shirt.
The 45th president and second-time GOP presidential candidate – who claims the case is sham – repeatedly had side conversations with his lawyer and fiddled with a piece of papers as the AG’s office continued to question Bender.
James also attended for the second day of trial.
The case is being decided by Justice Arthur Engoron rather than a jury.