He described his father as a real estate visionary who saw opportunities where others couldn’t, expanding the Trump Organization far past just development.
Donald Trump Jr., executive vice president at the Trump Organization, testified on Nov. 13 as the defense’s first witness in a fraud trial naming him, his brother Eric Trump, his father President Donald Trump, and other executives as defendants.
“My father saw a lot of things before other people in real estate,” Donald Trump Jr. said on the witness stand, beginning his testimony with an overview of his work at the Trump Organization.
He was questioned by state attorneys two weeks ago, and wasn’t cross-examined at the time. During that testimony, Mr. Trump, like his siblings, said more than once that he hadn’t been involved in the creation of the Trump Organization’s statements of financial condition (SFCs).
Case
The trial began on Oct. 2, with the New York attorney general’s office seeking to prove that the Trumps sought to defraud lenders and investors through inflated SFCs from 2011 to 2021, in a bench trial presided over by New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron.
The SFCs were a marketing piece prepared every year and used in Trump Organization deals, and not a standard financial document. It listed major assets and their values, adding up to a total net worth figure for President Trump.
The judge had already ruled, on Sept. 26, in favor of the attorney general’s claim that President Trump inflated his net worth, finding him liable for fraud. The trial deals with the petition’s remaining six claims which require proving intent to defraud, and the amount that President Trump will have to pay in penalties.
The judge’s decision could prove dire for President Trump’s real estate empire and image as a successful developer; already he has had his business certificates canceled by the judge, who ordered the immediate dissolution by a third party of the companies that make up the Trump Organization. While the order has been put on pause by an appeals court, the attorney general is also asking for penalties of $250 million and to bar the defendants from doing business in New York state for five years.
By Catherine Yang and Michael Washburn
