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Trump fraud trial live updates: Inside the courtroom on Day 3

"Trial day 2 highlights: Trump says he’ll testify in New York civil trial
"3 things that stood out on Day 1 of Trump's New York fraud trial""

Trump’s former longtime accountant, Donald Bender, is back on the witness stand today as the former president’s attorneys continue cross-examination.

[...]

38m ago / 4:25 AM AEDT

Trump blasts judge, legal system before leaving courthouse

Dareh Gregorian, Susan Kroll and Lisa Rubin

As Trump left the courthouse after attending the civil fraud trial against him and his company, he bashed the judge, the state attorney general and the legal system.

"I’m here, stuck here," an angry Trump complained before leaving. "I'd rather be right now in Iowa, I’d rather be in New Hampshire or South Carolina or Ohio or a lot of other places, but I’m stuck here because I have a corrupt attorney general," he fumed before leaving in a motorcade.

The former president, who had no legal obligation to attend the trial, said he'd done so since Monday because he wanted to point out "how corrupt it is."

He also attacked the judge, saying he's "run by the Democrats" and "already knows what he's going to do." "Our whole system is corrupt," he said, adding that Engoron came out of "the clubhouse."

Engoron came to the bench through the neighborhood-specific Democratic clubs that have a disproportionate role in who runs for elected office (and especially lower-tier offices) in NY.

Yesterday, we met a trial observer who told us that he is a professional musician and a friend of Engoron. He said they knew each other through their club, which is now known as Westside Democrats. Of course, that doesn’t mean Engoron is unqualified, biased, or wrong.

1h ago / 4:03 AM AEDT

Trial adjourns for lunch with Trump still in the courtroom

[...]

1h ago / 3:50 AM AEDT

‘This is ridiculous’: Judge and Trump lawyers spar over the accountant

Lisa Rubin and Summer Concepcion

Engoron and Trump's lawyers engaged in a heated back and forth about Bender’s inconsistent testimony .. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/live-blog/trump-trial-fraud-live-updates-rcna118694/rcrd19874?canonicalCard=true .

“Mr. Bender is not on trial here. Someone else is,” Engoron said, prompting Kise and Habba to jump up to disagree.

Kise told Engoron that Bender’s credibility is very much on trial. Engoron pushed back, telling Kise, “You’re not allowed to waste time.” Habba then accused Bender of being evasive and “having no memory as we sit here.”

“The government brought a case accusing my client of a staggering fraud,” specific to year, "but now when it’s time for us to defend ourselves,” Engoron will not let them examine him on a year by year basis, Kise said, adding that he will attempt to streamline the case, but the devil’s in the details.

“This is ridiculous!” Engoron yelled. He lowered his voice, before saying “there’s no point” in asking Bender year by year.

1h ago / 3:45 AM AEDT

Trump appeals judge's fraud ruling against him

Chloe Atkins and Dareh Gregorian

As the trial in the AG's $250 million civil suit against Trump was being heard in one court, the former president's attorneys filed a notice of appeal of the judge's ruling .. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/new-york-judge-rules-trump-committed-fraud-lied-net-years-rcna117504 .. that Trump had committed "persistent fraud" in another court.

The notice of appeal to the Appellate Division, the state's second highest court, said they were appealing "from each and every part" of the order that went against them.

In his decision .. https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/fbem/DocumentDisplayServlet?documentId=op8OyfqVHpc6eGTx9LOw3Q==&system=prod .. last week, Engoron denied Trump's motion seeking to have the claims against him thrown out on statute of limitations issues, and granted partial summary judgment on some of the AG's claims, including that Trump and his company had made "persistent" false claims overstating the value of their assets in their financial statements.

[...]

2h ago / 3:19 AM AEDT

Defense will likely seize on accountant's admission that he did not object to valuations

Lisa Rubin

Bender has now admitted that he neither disputed valuations of individual assets nor does he recall noticing any failure to disclose the methods used to value those assets, despite industry guidelines essentially obligating him to do so.

Bender’s failure to object to the valuation methodologies used by the Trump Organization and/or the disclosure of the same within the statements of financial condition likely will be a big theme for the defense. Their argument will be: “If the only CPA involved wasn’t troubled by these valuations, how could these statements and the subsequent use thereof in obtaining loans and insurance constitute violations of various New York penal statutes, all of which require proof of intent?”

That’s an argument with appeal on the face of it. And if a jury were here, the AG might struggle with the damage Suarez has done to Bender’s professionalism. But Bender’s failure to complain about the statements of financial condition and the valuation methods used therein do not mean those valuations and the statements in which they were presented were reasonable. It just shows that Bender (and, by extension, Mazars) were sloppy, if not financially beholden to their gravy train: the Trump Organization.

[ Insert: Fact-checking Trump's claims about New York fraud trial
1 day ago
[...] 3. Trump was denied a jury
After the judge's ruling last week, Mr Trump made this claim in a social media post, suggesting to supporters that he had been denied a trial and a jury, and therefore robbed of justice.
P - On Monday in court, the judge made a point to say that "nobody asked" for a jury trial.
P - Bench trials are not unheard of, and it means the judge alone will decide liability and penalties in the remaining six claims.
https://www.bbc.com/news/66989373 ]

And while Mazars had access to raw data that banks and lenders did not, the employees and executives of the Trump Organization were not entirely honest with Mazars either. Indeed, so far, Bender and his co-workers seem to have been equal parts victims of and accomplices to the defendants’ alleged fraud. The AG now has to rehabilitate Bender’s credibility as a witness while conceding he was hardly a model accountant.

[Insert: Just to note, Bender was making a million plus a year out of Trump. Also
fraudsters often have crook accountants too. I know that from personal experience.]

That’s a tough, “both/and” row to hoe — but it’s another reason why a bench trial favors the AG.

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2h ago / 2:57 AM AEDT

Court resumes without Trump

[...]

2h ago / 2:40 AM AEDT

Trump lawyer points out accountant's inconsistent testimony

Lisa Rubin, Adam Reiss, Chloe Atkins and Dareh Gregorian

Under question from Suarez, Bender said he "may" have consulted with specialists on the estimated current value of some Trump properties.

Suarez then played a bit from Bender's earlier deposition, in which he said he had not done so.

He then tried to get him to admit that discounted projections of cash flows from the use of an asset can be used in estimating its current value, and pressed him on the valuations of various Trump properties, including Trump Tower and Mar-a-Lago.

The questioning appeared designed to get Bender to admit that he was aware of the ways in which the Trump Organization assessed the value of various properties, but Bender didn't fully relent.

He said that he understood how the asset values were reached for a “significant portion” of the properties, especially because the notes to the statements of financial condition addressed some of the valuation methods, but he cannot recall today which he did or did not see or understand.

He also noted that he was not hired to do appraisals for Trump.

Bender testified yesterday that certain information had been withheld from him and his accounting firm, including the existence of certain appraisal reports.

What just unfolded in the courtroom was meaningful. Suarez got Bender to admit that he had access to all bases for valuing the real property assets in the statements of financial condition and that guidelines set forth by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants require accountants engaged in compilation of financial statements to familiarize themselves with the bases for valuing the estimated current value of an asset — and if there is a disagreement, to either insist on a modification of the disclosure or in the worse case, withdraw.

Bender admitted, before the judge called for 10-minute break, that aside from a single disagreement about the value in Niketown, which, after consultation with the Trump Organization, it modified, he could not recall bringing any other disagreement to their attention, much less withdrawing.

3h ago / 2:26 AM AEDT

VIDEO New York civil fraud trial could seriously hamper Trump businesses
Oct. 3, 2023 04:19
https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/new-york-civil-fraud-trial-could-seriously-hamper-trump-businesses-194222661889

3h ago / 1:57 AM AEDT

Trump lawyer grills Bender about accounting work

Lisa Rubin

Suarez is now cross-examining Bender about some accounting principles. This is a level of deep accounting weediness that Trump is nonetheless sitting through.

Trump's lawyers are trying to show — despite the Trump Organization’s written assertion that it, not Mazars, was responsible for the preparation of the statements in compliance with standardized accounting practices — that Bender should have known and should have guided Trump better.

They are also trying to establish, as Bender just agreed, that even under this particular standard, there is no one accepted way to estimate the current value of an asset to show that what Trump and his co-defendants did was not fraudulent, much less intentionally so.

3h ago / 1:50 AM AEDT

Trump lawyer spars with his ex-accountant on the stand

Lisa Rubin, Adam Reiss and Dareh Gregorian

Trump attorney Jesus Suarez is mixing it up with Bender on the witness stand.

After Bender testified that a correction on the size of Trump's triplex apartment was the work of the Trump Organization and not him, Suarez suggested that Bender was lying when he said a now-deceased accountant was his “relationship partner” at Mazars for all Trump work.

A relationship partner, in law and accounting firm parlance, is the person who might have originated the business relationship and might handle the bills, but is not necessarily the lead partner handling the work.

Suarez took Bender through a series of “engagement continuance forms” internal to his former accounting firm Mazars that listed Bender as the partner in charge. The judge seemed unimpressed, however, and suggested they move on.

Trump appears engaged with his soft-spoken former accountant's testimony and complained at one point he couldn't hear what Bender was saying. Bender then started speaking more clearly and closer to the microphone, often answering "I don't recall" to Suarez's questions.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/live-blog/trump-trial-fraud-live-updates-rcna118694