THE Donald Trump “arbitrarily” inflated their value real estate of in order to secure more favorable premiumshis former lawyer argued todayMichael Cohenin his deposition in the former president’s fraud trial.
Cohen, who once said he would “eat a bullet” for Trump, today he is a key witness against him in the case brought before the courts by the Democratic attorney general of New York Leticia James.
Cohen testified that Trump was seen instructing him to inflate the value of many properties that belonged to the Trump Organization company, so that in the tax returns to make it appear that these assets had “very high value and minimal liabilities so as to ensure better insurance premiums”. The value of the properties was “whatever number Mr. Trump told us,” Cohen added, in brief testimony before adjourning court for a lunch break.
After the break, Trump told reporters he’s “not worried at all” for Cohen’s deposition.
Colleen Faherty, the attorney representing the prosecution, began her questions to Cohen with his criminal record. The former lawyer had pleaded guilty in 2018 to campaign finance law violations but also for lying to Congress in another investigation into Trump’s business dealings with Russia. “He did it at the behest, in agreement and for the benefit of Donald Trump” he said from the witness stand, referring to his false testimony to Congress.
Trump leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Cohen, whispering intermittently to his lawyers. Before the start of today’s hearing he called his former partner a “liar”. “He’s a proven liar, you know, a criminal. We didn’t do anything wrong and that’s the truth.”he told reporters.
In 2019 Cohen he entered prison to serve his three-year sentence. The following year, during the pandemic, he was released from prison but placed under house arrest.
His testimony to a congressional inquiry in 2019 into Trump’s finances prompted an investigation by Leticia James. Then, in a “vitriolic” attack on his former boss, the lawyer claimed that Trump “inflated his real estate prices whenever it helped,” including to be included in Forbes magazine’s list of the richest people in the world.
After being sentenced to three years in prison in 2018, Cohen cooperated with prosecutors in several cases against Trump. He will be a key witness in another trial, set for March 2024, involving the payment of $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence before the 2016 presidential election. Cohen himself has been convicted for this case and asserts that he acted at the behest of Trump, with whom Daniels claimed to have an affair.
Source: News Beast
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