By Jack Queen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Eric Trump is expected to face a second day of questions on the witness stand on Friday in a fraud trial that threatens to hobble the real-estate empire that vaulted his father Donald Trump to prominence.
The former U.S. president’s second son has insisted in sworn testimony in a New York court that he knew nothing about the financial estimates of apartment towers, golf courses and other assets that a judge has already ruled were fraudulently inflated to win favorable terms from lenders and insurers.
But emails and other evidence introduced at trial show he was involved in decisions about how to value those properties. He has said he does not recall those discussions or was only involved with them peripherally while he oversaw other aspects of the sprawling business.
Because Judge Arthur Engoron has already ruled that Trump and his company fraudulently inflated asset values, the trial is largely about what penalty they should face.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is pressing for penalties of up to $250 million and a permanent ban on all three Trumps owning companies in their home state, among other restrictions.
Trump has denied wrongdoing and has accused James and Engoron of political bias in extensive comments online and in person.
That has earned him $15,000 in fines so far for violating a limited gag order that prevents him from criticizing court staff. Engoron threatened to expand the gag order to apply to Trump’s lawyers on Thursday after one of them mentioned his clerk, who has been singled out by Trump.
“We know what’s going on out there in the world,” Engeron told them.
Trump himself is due to testify on Monday, followed by his daughter Ivanka on Wednesday. She is not a defendant in the case.
The trial, which is expected to last until December, is one of several legal troubles Trump faces as he campaigns to win back the White House.
He faces a total of 91 felony charges in four separate criminal cases, including two stemming from his attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
Nevertheless, he holds a commanding lead over his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination.
The New York fraud trial has so far seen dramatic appearances by Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, who testified that Trump directed him to inflate asset values to make him appear more wealthy.
Trump’s other son, Donald Jr., testified this week that he had little to do with those valuations when he and Eric controlled the company during their father’s 2017-2021 stint in the White House.
(Reporting by Jack Queen; Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Scott Malone and David Gregorio)
