Former President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he leaves the courtroom during a lunch break in his civil business fraud trial, Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023, in New York. top corporate deputies considered adding a"presidential premium" to his Trump Tower penthouse, Mar-a-Lago resort and other assets during his White House years, a gambit that would've padded his net worth by nearly $145 million, an executive at the former president's company testified Friday.
Birney was testifying at the end of the second week of a non-jury trial in New York Attorney General Letitia James'and will return on Monday. He is the third Trump Organization executive to take the witness stand, following longtime Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg and Senior Vice President and Controller Jeffrey McConney. Both of them are defendants in the case and have since retired.
The trial concerns related allegations of conspiracy, insurance fraud and falsifying business records. James, a Democrat, is seeking $250 million in penalties and wants Trump and other defendants banned from doing business in New York. “Was applying a presidential premium to a series of assets something you would have done on your own?” state lawyer Eric Haren asked.He said one of the discussions he had with Weisselberg about valuing Trump’s properties happened in a Trump Tower bathroom.