(CNN) 鈥� Donald Trump inflated his net worth by as much as $2.2 billion in one year, lawyers for the New York attorney general鈥檚 office alleged as part of their against the former president, his adult sons and the Trump Organization.
Over a 10-year period, the attorney general鈥檚 office said that when it corrects the Trump financial statements for alleged misvaluations it 鈥渞educes Mr. Trump鈥檚 net worth by between 17-39% in each year, or between $812 million to $2.2 billion, depending on the year.鈥� The $2.2 billion disparity came in 2014, the state said.
The new allegations were made in a partial summary judgment motion made public Wednesday by New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat.
鈥淏ased on the undisputed evidence, no trial is required for the court to determine that defendants presented grossly and materially inflated asset values in the (statements of financial condition) and then used those SFCs repeatedly in business transactions to defraud banks and insurers,鈥� the attorney general鈥檚 office wrote. 鈥淣otwithstanding defendants鈥� horde of 13 experts, at the end of the day, this is a documents case, and the documents leave no shred of doubt that Mr. Trump鈥檚 SFCs do not even remotely reflect the 鈥榚stimated current value鈥� of his assets as they would trade between well-informed market participants.鈥�
In a newly released deposition from the case, Trump testified that he had 鈥渧ery little, if any鈥� involvement in putting the financial statements together.
Trump鈥檚 lawyers responded with a court filing arguing that the case should be dismissed, asserting that the Trump Organization鈥檚 financial statements were not misleading.
The attorney general鈥檚 office said their valuation and accounting experts determined that 鈥淢r. Trump鈥檚 net worth in any year between 2011 and 2021 would be no more than $2.6 billion, rather than the stated net worth of up to $6.1 billion, and likely considerably less if his properties were actually valued in full blown professional appraisals.鈥�
James鈥� office is asking the judge to find that Trump and others made false or misleading financial statements from 2011-2021 and benefited from inflating his assets by receiving favorable loan terms and insurance rates.
The judge is not expected to rule on the motions until just before the trial.
Trump says financial statements were not misleading
Trump and others have denied any wrongdoing. Trump鈥檚 lawyers said in a court filing that the Trump Organization鈥檚 financial statements were not misleading and it never missed a loan payment, arguing the judge should dismiss the attorney general鈥檚 fraud lawsuit since no parties were harmed.
鈥淭he [statements of financial condition] at issue were simply not misleading. Therefore, the Defendants are entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law,鈥� Trump鈥檚 attorneys wrote. 鈥淭he undisputed record further establishes his companies timely paid hundreds of millions of dollars in interest to their lenders and never defaulted on a loan or even been late on a loan payment during the entire 15+ year time period the NYAG has sought to scrutinize in this action.鈥�
Trump lawyers argued that there was no intent to defraud lenders or insurers and the statements contained caveats explaining that they were unaudited and departed from Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.
To buttress their argument, Trump鈥檚 lawyers point to deposition testimony from Rosemary Vrablic, the former head of private wealth management at Deutsche Bank, which has loaned the Trump Organization hundreds of millions of dollars over the years. In the deposition Vrablic testified 鈥渢o the best of her knowledge鈥� Trump didn鈥檛 submit materially misleading statements to the lender. The bank made over $75 million in interest on the loans, according to Trump鈥檚 filing. Another lender, Ladder Capital, made $40 million in interest, the filing said.
David Miller, a former executive at Erie Insurance, testified that insurer Zurich 鈥渄idn鈥檛 rely on asset valuations at all,鈥� according to the Trump filing.
Trump deposition released
Trump said the Trump Organization financial statements had a 鈥渨orthless clause鈥� in them warning lenders and others that they shouldn鈥檛 be relied on and that he had 鈥渧ery little, if any鈥� involvement in putting them together, according to the newly released deposition in the civil fraud lawsuit.
Trump appeared across the table from James in April and answered questioned posed by her top attorneys for nearly seven hours. During the deposition, Trump was asked about the valuations given to his apartment at Trump Tower, Mar-a-Lago and other properties and golf courses 鈥� valuations James has alleged were fraudulently inflated to enrich the Trumps by gaining lower rates on loans and insurance.
The deposition has not been made public until now as part of legal challenges to the lawsuit, which is set to go to trial in October.
Under oath, Trump distanced himself from preparing the financial statements, saying the Trump Organization鈥檚 former chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, 鈥減rimarily鈥� prepared the numbers included in the financial statements, along with others working under him.
鈥淚 think he just uses good faith. I just 鈥� you know, you鈥檇 see a property and, I think, he looked at comparables perhaps. But I never went into it very much. I paid much less credence to this than you would even think,鈥� Trump testified.
When asked about his involvement by state attorneys, Trump said he minimized his role.
鈥淣ot much. They had the numbers. I鈥檇 see it mostly after it was completed that, you know, he gave me a rundown or give me in some cases like the statement, maybe an outline in some cases,鈥� Trump said. 鈥淒on鈥檛 forget you鈥檙e talking about a lot of different statements over a lot of different years. From 鈥� I would say from 2015 on, because I started campaigning in 2015, as you know. I would say I had very little, if any, involvement. I just didn鈥檛 have very much involvement.鈥�
Trump put the onus on the hired accountants, who, he said, provided information they needed and were hired to make sure everything was 鈥済ood.鈥�
Assets described with 鈥榗ertain verbiage鈥�
According to the attorney general鈥檚 brief filed Wednesday, Trump secured favorable terms through Deutsche Bank鈥檚 private wealth management division by personally guaranteeing multi-million-dollar loans awarded to the Trump Organization for well-known Trump properties in Washington, DC, Florida and Chicago.
Deutsche Bank awarded the loans and maintained them based on the former president鈥檚 allegedly inflated statements of financial condition, the attorney general鈥檚 office claimed.
The Trump Organization pivoted to the private wealth management division from its commercial real estate division in 2011 when Trump鈥檚 son-in-law Jared Kushner introduced Donald Trump Jr. to Vbralic, the division鈥檚 managing director, according to the filing.
The Trump Organization refinanced its 40 Wall Street property with Allen Weisselberg鈥檚 son, Jack, through his employer, Ladder Capital, in 2015. Weisselberg facilitated the negotiations that ultimately led to a loan deal guaranteed personally by Trump, who reported to Ladder his 2014 net worth was nearly $5.8 billion, according to the filing. According to the attorney general鈥檚 office, Trump鈥檚 net worth was actually $2.2 billion less, approximately 38%.
When asked whether it would be 鈥渟urprising鈥� for her to see 鈥渁n adjustment of the reported net worth,鈥� Vbrablic said, 鈥淎gain, I don鈥檛 know what goes into it.鈥�
During his deposition, Allen Weisselberg testified that he was being paid $2 million over a two-year period that began in January, according to a separation agreement with the Trump Organization. He declined to qualify his exit from the company as a resignation or termination, saying, 鈥� I had so much going on in my mind at that time.鈥�
Weisselberg did not suggest Donald Trump crossed any lines in connection to the allegations against the company in the suit.
鈥淭here could have been an occasion where he put a mark next to a number with a question mark 鈥� that wouldn鈥檛 be unusual to question it and give him an answer,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd from that point forward, we would either show him how we got to that number and why we felt it was appropriate or he may have had a better 鈥� other information that we weren鈥檛 aware of that we may have used instead.鈥�
Weisselberg said that he 鈥渄idn鈥檛 delve into the numbers鈥� on the statements of financial condition, which he claimed was another employee鈥檚 responsibility.
鈥淢y role was not to gather numbers, gather data, go out to third-party experts. I did none of those things,鈥� he said in his May deposition.
Before a statement of financial condition was released, Weisselberg said he would give it to Trump to review.
鈥淚鈥檇 walk into him and tell him, you know, we had the draft statement. And, usually, he was on the phone doing a million things. He didn鈥檛 have time to sit down and spend hours reviewing it,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 would give it to him and most times I would leave it on his desk and then he would look at it when he had the time and that would be it.鈥�
Trump liked to ensure the assets were written about using 鈥渃ertain verbiage,鈥� Weisselberg said.
鈥淚 might say beautiful. He might say magnificent,鈥� he said when prompted to give an example. 鈥淚 might say it was cute. He would say it鈥檚 incredible.鈥�
Lawsuit set to go to trial in October
The $250 million lawsuit is set to go to trial in October, kicking off what will be for the former president. Trump will not be required to attend the fraud trial, which could last as long as six weeks, because it is a civil case but he could testify in his defense.
The financial stakes are high for him and his family. James is seeking $250 million and to permanently bar Trump and his sons from serving as an officer or director of any business registered in New York state and block them from engaging in any new real estate transactions for five years.
The lawsuit alleges Trump, his adult sons and the Trump Organization enriched themselves by inflating the value of numerous properties, including Trump鈥檚 triplex apartment at Trump Tower, Mar-a-Lago and numerous golf courses.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
The-CNN-Wire
鈩� & 漏 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
