Part of Michael Cohen’s potentially incriminating video deposition was released Monday as the New York Attorney General’s $250 million fraud case against former President Donald Trump began in a Manhattan courtroom.
A video clip of Cohen’s sworn testimony was played for Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron during opening remarks from the Attorney General’s office, at a civil trial in which the former president is accused of inflating his net worth on financial documents to gain an advantage in business and save hundreds of millions of ringgit.
Cohen – Trump’s former personal lawyer and “fixer” – described how the real estate mogul would call him and Allen Weisselberg, the former CFO of the Trump Organization, into his office and ask them to increase his value – in part so he could rank higher on the Forbes billionaires list.
“Let’s say it says he’s worth $6 billion,” Cohen said during an April 28 deposition. “Well, he wanted to be higher on the Forbes list, and he then said, ‘I’m not actually worth 6 billion. I’m worth 7. In fact, I think it’s actually worth 8 now with everything that’s going on.'”
“Allen and I were tasked with taking assets, increasing each of those asset classes to cover that $8 billion,” Cohen said in the video.
A video clip of Michael Cohen’s deposition was made public on Monday in the $250 million civil fraud case against Donald Trump. New York State Attorney General
Trump – who attended the first day of the trial, prompting protesters to show up outside the courtroom – grimaced as he watched his onetime ally’s testimony play out in the packed courtroom.
The taped testimony was released along with brief snippets of video depositions from the 45th president and his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr., as well as Weisselberg — in which they each denied involvement in the company’s accounting.
Eric – the executive vice president of the Trump Org – said in his March 7 deposition that he did not recall being involved in preparing the financial statements his father allegedly lied about from 2011 to 2021.
Cohen claimed in a sworn statement that Trump told him to increase the company’s assets to reach the amount Trump thought his company was worth.Steven Hirsch
In a brief video segment of Don Jr.’s sworn testimony. and Weisselberg – from July 28, 2022 and May 12, 2023, respectively – they each said they knew nothing about GAAP or Generally Accepted Accounting Practices, the standards used to prepare and report financial statements.
Meanwhile in a clip of Trump’s deposition, taken on April 13, he said that Weisselberg handled GAAP for the company.
A lawyer in Attorney General Kevin Wallace’s office told the judge that Trump, 77, and his co-defendants lied “year after year” about his wealth.
Cohen, a former Trump fixer, gave sworn testimony earlier this year.REUTERSTrump said in opening arguments Monday that the case hinged, in part, on the word of Cohen — a convicted fraud and felon. Attorney General of New York
Trump’s lawyers argued in opening remarks that the Attorney General’s case was based on the word of Cohen – a convicted felon – and that his testimony was unreliable.
They also claim that Trump did not commit fraud that ruined banks and insurance companies but rather that these companies made millions off the former president – who paid back all the loans he took out.
After opening statements concluded, the first witness, Donald Bender, a partner at the accounting firm Mazar, was called to testify about his company’s time handling the Trump Org account.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
