Judge hears Trump’s bogus net worth cheated banks out of $168 million; Don Jr. set to take stand at NYC fraud trial

NEW YORK — Bogus evaluations of Donald Trump’s net worth cheated financial institutions out of $168 million in lost interest, a bank official testified Wednesday at the former president’s fraud trial in Manhattan.

Michiel McCarty, the chairman and CEO of investment bank M.M. Dillon & Co., testified in Manhattan Supreme Court on the effect inflated valuations submitted to banks and lenders by Trump and his top executives had on interest rates.

Calculations by McCarty — slated to be the last witness before lawyers for the New York attorney general summon Trump and his adult children to the stand and rest their case — showed the false information Trump’s company submitted in deals involving his Doral resort in Florida, the Old Post Office in Washington, D.C., his Chicago hotel, and Wall Street skyscraper between 2014 and this year resulted in $168,040,168 in lost interest.

The tally stands in contrast with Trump’s repeated argument that banks didn’t suffer as a result of his miscalculations and that they got richer. Judge Arthur Engoron rejected that argument in his pretrial summary judgment ruling, finding Trump, his sons, and top execs liable for the AG’s top fraud claim. The judge determined they falsely ballooned Trump’s net worth by between $812 million and $2.2 billion between 2014 and 2021.

On direct examination, AG lawyer Kevin Wallace pointed to a footnote in Engoron’s scathing pretrial ruling, which McCarty said was true.

“The subject loans made the banks lots of money; but the fraudulent SFCs [Statements of Financial Condition] cost the banks lots of money. The less collateral for a loan, the riskier it is, and a first principle of loan accounting is that as risk rises, so do interest rates. Thus, accurate SFCs would have allowed the lenders to make even more money than they did,” Engoron wrote on Sept. 26.

Trump lawyer Chris Kise vehemently objected to the testimony as “beyond absurd,” positing, among other arguments, that Engoron hadn’t heard any testimony from banking reps saying they would have proceeded differently presented with accurate statements from Trump.

He said the tally did not amount to ill-gotten gains absent that testimony from banks.

“I decide if they’re ill-gotten,” Engoron later said.

The judge was expected to next hear from the former president’s eldest son and top executive, Don Jr., on Wednesday afternoon.

In the case now in its fifth week on trial, Engoron is considering the AG’s undecided six claims. James’ office is seeking to recover $250 million and a ruling permanently barring Trump and his executive children from running a business in New York again. Trump hasn’t been present in open court since storming out last week during the testimony of his former fixer Michael Cohen.

Trump’s attorneys are expected to begin their defense case after AG lawyers have finished questioning his daughter, Ivanka, next week. It’s unclear whether they’ll call each of the 127 people on their witness list. Judge Arthur Engoron has estimated the trial may last until Dec. 22.

Kise said he expected the defense’s cross-examination of McCarty to last up to three hours, meaning Don Jr. might not be called to the stand until the end of the day.

Trump’s son arrived during the lunch break, entering the 60 Centre St. courthouse through the front entrance instead of the side door like his father.

The Trump Org executive vice president is expected to face a grilling about his role in various loan transactions, deals involving Trump’s Chicago hotel and his Scottish golf course, and commercial leasing for Trump Tower on Fifth Ave and Trump’s Wall Street skyscraper. He was appointed a trustee of his father’s fortune along with convicted finance chief Allen Weisselberg when Trump won the White House.

Trump’s middle son, Eric, is expected to be called to the stand on Thursday, and his testimony may extend into Friday.

Trump is slated to return to the stand on Monday. Engoron last week found him “not credible” after hearing just three minutes of spontaneous testimony about his incendiary comments outside court. The judge rejected his claim he’d been trashing Cohen and not the judge’s principal law clerk in violation of a gag order.

Ivanka Trump was dismissed from the case on appeal for time-barred claims this summer. On Wednesday, she filed a notice of appeal of Engoron’s decision last week compelling her to testify against her father and brothers under subpoena on Nov. 8.

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