Trump cost banks $168M by inflating his company's worth: fraud trial expert
Trump Organization lenders lost about $168 million because of the former president’s misrepresentation of his corporation’s worth, an expert witness for the prosecution testified Wednesday.
Michiel McCarty Wednesday provided this estimate in the New York City courtroom where Donald Trump faces a $250 million civil suit brought by Attorney General Letitia James, ABC News reports.
McCarty’s estimate was based on interest collected between 2014 and 2023 on loans linked to Trump properties in Chicago, Washington, D.C. Miami and New York, according to the report.
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His testimony arrived just hours before Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. is slated to take the stand.
During an hour-long cross, Trump attorney Jesus Suarez tried to cast doubt on the estimate by highlighting the institutions McCarty did not contact — among them Deutsche Bank and the Trump Organization — and his connection to the prosecutor who called him to the stand.
"Who created the universe of documents for you to review?” Suarez asked. “It was the New York attorney general, right?"
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Trump attorney Chris Kise tried to argue the state never proved the dollars lost were “ill-gotten gains.”
"They are not ill-gotten gains if the bank does not testify it would have done it differently," said Kise, referencing previous testimony from a Deutsche Bank executive.
Replied Judge Arthur Engoron, "I decided these were ill-gotten.”