Trump Civil Fraud Trial The Latest What to Know Trump on the Stand Ivanka Trump’s Testimony Who

nd Ivanka Trump’s Testimony Who Is Judge Engoron?

What to Know About Trump’s Civil

Fraud Trial
Last week, bankers from Deutsche Bank testified on behalf of the
former president, lending support to a central plank of his
defense, while a gag order was reinstated against him.

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Donald J. Trump, with his son Eric, left, outside the State Supreme Court in Manhattan
last month. Dave Sanders for The New York Times

By Kate Christobek
Dec. 4, 2023, 3:00 a.m. ET

Donald J. Trump’s defense lawyers will call his son and fellow
defendant Eric Trump back to the witness stand this week, along
with more expert witnesses to testify on the former president’s
behalf.

Mr. Trump, who already testified during his civil fraud trial last
month, is scheduled to testify again on Dec. 11 before his lawyers
rest their case.

The trial, which started in October, stems from a lawsuit brought

by the New York attorney general, Letitia James. She has accused
Mr. Trump and other defendants, including his companies and his
sons Donald Jr. and Eric of inflating the value of assets to obtain
favorable loans and insurance deals.

Today marks the 39th day of the civil fraud trial and kicks off the
fourth week of the defendants’ case.

The judge, Arthur F. Engoron, ruled even before the trial began
that Mr. Trump and the other defendants were liable for fraud.
After the trial he will decide what punishments they should face.
Ms. James has asked that the former president pay $250 million
and that he and his sons be permanently barred from running a
business in New York.

Mr. Trump has denied all wrongdoing. His lawyers have argued
that the assets had no objective value and that differing valuations
are common in real estate.

Here is what happened last week:

Fully Satisfied Bankers

Current and former bankers from Deutsche Bank testified on
behalf of Mr. Trump.

David Williams, a banker with the institution’s private wealth

management group, said that financial statements like Mr. Trump’s
relied on estimates. As a result, he said, the bank conducted its own
due diligence and adjusted the numbers downward.

At one point, Mr. Williams testified that Mr. Trump’s net worth had
been adjusted to $2.6 billion from the $4.9 billion he originally
reported, and that such a large change was not unusual in his line
of work.

The court also heard from Rosemary Vrablic, a former Deutsche

Bank employee who served as an intermediary between the bank
and the Trump family and who oversaw hundreds of millions of
dollars of loans to Mr. Trump.

Jesus Suarez, a lawyer for Mr. Trump, asked Ms. Vrablic about old
emails showing the bank’s excitement in having the Trump family
as clients. Early in the relationship, Ms. Vrablic told her colleagues
in a 2011 email that she expected the Trump family to introduce the
bank to “the wealthiest people on the planet.”

Years later, Ms. Vrablic told the former president’s daughter

Ivanka Trump that the Trump family was among the top 10 clients
in her division in terms of revenue generation, and that her boss
was thrilled with how their business had grown.

Parade of Experts Continues

Mr. Trump’s lawyers then called Robert Unell, an expert witness in
commercial real estate financing, to support the testimony of the
bankers.

Mr. Unell praised Mr. Trump’s financial statements, saying they

were of better quality than those typically received in real estate
transactions. But he said such statements were only meant to
serve as a “road map” for banks to conduct their own analysis.

Mr. Unell also said that Deutsche Bank would have been excited
about having Mr. Trump as a client, as he would have been able to
make introductions to other high-net-worth clients and help the
bank’s private wealth business expand.

In response to the testimony, Justice Engoron said wryly, “If there

is one thing we’ve learned over the last eight weeks, it is that banks
like billionaires.”

Gag Orders Reinstated

During the trial’s first week, Mr. Trump shared a post on social
media showing Justice Engoron’s law clerk, Allison Greenfield,
standing next to Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate majority
leader. Mr. Trump falsely referred to her as “Schumer’s girlfriend”
in the post and accused her of “running this case against me.”

In response, Justice Engoron issued a gag order prohibiting Mr.

Trump from commenting on the judge’s staff. He later issued a
similar gag order against Mr. Trump’s lawyers after they
questioned Ms. Greenfield’s prominence in the case and accused
her of partisan bias because she is a Democrat.

Over the past two months, Mr. Trump has violated the gag order
twice, resulting in $15,000 in fines.

His lawyers appealed the orders, and another judge, David

Friedman, temporarily halted them. Mr. Trump then criticized Ms.
Greenfield on social media, calling her “disturbed and angry.”

The gag orders were reinstated last week after a review by an

appeals court panel. Justice Engoron addressed the reinstatement
in court on Thursday, saying he intended to enforce the orders
“rigorously and vigorously.”

One of Mr. Trump’s lawyers, Christopher M. Kise, released a

statement saying, “In a country where the First Amendment is
sacrosanct, President Trump may not even comment on why he
thinks he cannot get a fair trial.”

What to Expect
After Mr. Trump’s lawyers rest their case next week, the attorney
general’s lawyers are expected to call several witnesses to offer
rebuttal testimony.

The trial will then break until January. Both sides will submit
written briefs and then return to the courtroom on Jan. 11 for
closing arguments.

A few weeks later, Justice Engoron is expected to release his

decision.

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