My father was a CPA. I loved him dearly, but he understood the law about this well:
But Bartov, an accounting professor at NYU, was quick to credit the inflated price to accounting errors and argued if Trump had committed fraud he would have worked harder to hide it, ABC News reports.
Financial documents reported that the Fifth Avenue apartment was three times the size it actually is — roughly 10,000 square feet, according to evidence presented in court.
"There is no evidence here of concealment," Bartov reportedly said. "This is an error. But it is no fraud."
Fraud does not require intent, or even action, to conceal. It just requires an intent to defraud.
Bartov instead cast blame on an external accounting firm that should have caught in an audit the leap in price from $80 million to $180 million, the report notes.
Yeah, that doesn't let Trump off the hook.
The Messenger reporter Adam Klasfeld reports Bartov was dismissive of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit, which contends Trump and his sons defrauded lenders by inflating the value of their assets.
“My main finding is that there is no evidence whatsoever of any accounting fraud,” Bartov reportedly said.
Which means bupkis, because:
Justice Arthur Engoron has already found Trump, who denies wrongdoing, liable for fraud. The trial’s work is to assess damages.
Barton did Trump no favors at all. But Trump's lawyers aren't in charge of the case. Trump is.
In a Thursday court filing, shared by Brandi Buchman at Law&Crime, the legal team wrote: "Defendant President Donald J. Trump hereby provides notice that he appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from the Memorandum Opinion and Order of the District Court dated December 1, 2023, Docs. 171, 172."
NBC legal analyst Katie Phang tweeted that Trump's team is also asking for a pause to all litigation regarding the 2020 election federal suit until the appeal on presidential immunity is decided.
Trump is still trying desperately to delay the trial so he can vote in the primary in Florida. (And no, I don't think this will do it. If he ultimately wins the case, he's free. If he doesn't, no reason to delay proceedings while he tries. IMHLO, anyway.) If he's a convicted felon, as Chris Christie pointed out last night, he can't vote in Florida. I wonder if he'd be able to in New York? Felons banned from voting tends to be a Southern thing, aimed mostly at blacks. It would be ironic...
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