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New York City — Former President Donald Trump sat patiently in the courtroom of his public fraud trial in New York on Thursday, watching as the defense’s final expert witness revealed that Eli Bartov, that “there is no proof of any financial system”.
On Friday, Bartov revealed that he was paid about $877,500 for his expert testimony in the case – paid $1,350 an hour for about 650 hours of work. When asked by New York state prosecutors who was paying him, Bartov replied that his bank statements show that some of the money was paid by the Trump Organization and others it came from Trump’s Save America PAC.
The discussion about Bartov’s compensation came shortly after one of Trump’s lawyers, Alina Habba, expressed her displeasure with Judge Engoron regarding the objections made by the party’s attorney general.
“Why are we wasting our time if no one is going to listen to the words that come from the mouths of our experts?” Habba asked.
Another expert witness for the defense, Frederick Chin, who testified earlier this week about land planning, admitted that he was paid $850 an hour for 1,000 hours of work. , totaling $850,000. The state’s expert witness, Mr. Michael McCarty, testified that he was paid $950 an hour, but he worked very few hours, which was about $350,000. to be found for his testimony.
These estimates provide a glimpse into the high costs of one of Trump’s many legal battles, a set of criminal and civil challenges that Save America is facing. The PAC spent $40 million in the first half of this year alone.
Trump stayed in the courtroom all day for Thursday’s proceedings and spoke occasionally outside the courtroom throughout the day, praising Bartov, an accounting professor at the Stern School of Business. in New York, and his testimony many times.
“This is an ugly situation. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Trump said. “But this special witness, very respected by everyone, with a resume that few people have seen before, says that there is no fraud, there is no financial fraud, there is nothing.”
He later praised the qualifications of Bartov “as an expert, a famous person, a person who sits on the Pulitzer committee, a very respected person, the Stern School, NYU, top professor, a very honest person by the way, (is) old. honorable,” and said, “If he doesn’t agree, he won’t tell me what he’s saying. And he said it’s loans amazing. I never needed the money.”
Bartov himself appeared to be a witness made for the former president in his dramatic reviews of Trump’s financial statements.
“I’ve never seen a statement that gives so much information and is so clear,” he said. “Footnotes provide more information.”
The professor also said that if the information is given as a project in his class, “they will get an A”.
State attorneys expressed skepticism about Bartov’s findings, leading to some heated moments in the courtroom.
“This is pure speculation from someone they hired to say whatever they want in this case,” said attorney Kevin Wallace, an attorney for the state attorney general, in the during an objection to Bartov’s testimony on Thursday.
Trump’s lawyer, Jesus Suarez, responded, “Oh shit, man.”
“So,” said Wallace.
“It’s very unthinkable,” Suarez said.
Bartov then yelled at Wallace, “You should be ashamed of yourself for talking like that. You make accusations that never existed. There is no proof of this.”
In his testimony, Bartov strongly disputed the cause of the lawsuit brought by Letitia James, the attorney general of New York, and said that from a financial point of view, there is no merit. He said that Trump’s use of sanctions in his financial statements clearly shows that borrowers should do their own due diligence and reduce risks in financial statements, explaining that they should Lenders do their own independent calculations.
“To me, the case is not about the prices, but about the details of the financial situation,” said Judge Engoron during a debate with Trump’s lawyer on Friday. “You can’t use false information in business. That’s the summary of the decision of the court.
Judge Engoron ruled before the trial that Trump and the other defendants are liable for fraud in a summary judgment. Trump, his two eldest sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, and their company have been accused of inflating the value of important financial records in order to get better loans and insurance. They have denied wrongdoing in the matter.
Trump, who has already testified last month, is scheduled to return to court on Monday, December 11.
The investigation against Bartov is expected to resume on Tuesday of this week, as this case has been closed.
– Graham Kates contributed to this report.