New York Attorney General Letitia James' office called for a review of evidence after a key witness was accused of lying under oath in relation to Donald Trump's civil fraud trial.
The situation comes as the New York AG's office also suggested that the Trump Organization failed to produce evidence in the $250 million fraud trial. Officials said in a letter that it has "identified likely omissions" in documents that were produced by the defendants related to 2016 exchanges with Forbes Magazine.
Donald Trump's Civil Fraud Trial
These were regarding the value of Trump's real estate assets and the alleged failure to produce evidence "indicates a breakdown somewhere in the process." Senior enforcement counsel Kevin Wallace said that it was also suggestive of potentially broader issues in the production process.
The latest accusation opposes Trump's repeated claims that all of the witness testimony in the trial is "perfect for us." It could also undermine the defense of former Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg. The latter had been accused of lying on the stand in an effort to distance himself from false financial statements that are at the heart of the case, as per CNBC.
The lawsuit filed by the New York attorney general accuses the former United States president, his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Rump, the Trump Organization, and several of the company's top executives of misstating the true values of properties. This was allegedly done to obtain tax advantages and better terms on loans and insurance.
James also wants the court hearing the case to levy $250 million in damages and permanently bar Trump and his two adult sons from serving as officers of any New York business. In Wallace's letter, he proposed that an independent monitor be allowed to conduct a forensic review of electronic data that was held by the Trump Organization from August to September 2016.
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False Valuation of Assets
He said that if the monitor determines that responsive information was not produced, she can provide an assessment of where in the process the failure occurred. He noted that she would also be able to propose remedies to ameliorate the issues.
The latest development comes after a real estate executive contradicted Eric's claim that he had no role in appraisals of a luxury golf development that is one of the focal points of the case. A senior managing director at Cushman & Wakefield, David McArdle, reviewed numerous emails between Eric and attorney Sheri Dillon on Thursday, according to Yahoo Finance.
The emails supposedly had the two individuals discussing the valuation of a Trump property known as Seven Springs in Westchester County. It was one of several Trump assets that James alleges were inflated by hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
McArdle said that he was afraid that if he succumbed to the pressures and valued the undeveloped property at higher than $45 million, it could place Eric in a "vulnerable position." This was because the appraisal could later end up being scrutinized by the tax authorities or a court, said the New York Post.
