Trump Organization executive explains valuations
Patrick Birney had been working for the Trump Organization for more than two years when a magazine article prompted him to change Trump's financial statement, the executive testified.
"There was an article written that stated that Mr. Trump's triplex was actually 10,900 or so square feet," Birney said, referring to a 2017 Forbes magazine article that alleged Trump had been lying about the size of his residence. (Judge Engoron decided in his partial summary judgment last month that the size was misrepresented.)
Birney, who was an assistant VP at the time, testified that Trump Organization executives, including former CFO Allen Weisselberg, "verified" the size and adjusted the next year's statement of financial condition. As a result, the penthouse was valued at $116 million in 2017 -- a steep drop from the 2016 valuation of $327 million.
Birney testified that he looked up comparable properties to come up with the value of the apartment going forward.
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"I Google searched recent penthouse sales in Manhattan," Birney said, eventually landing on an web article about a penthouse purchased by billionaire Ken Griffin that set the record for most expensive home ever sold in the United States.
A price-per-square-foot for Trump's penthouse was determined based on that record-breaking sale, Birney said.
When Birney was tasked with finding comparable properties to value Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club, he similarly searched for nearby Palm Beach homes. However, Trump signed a deed in 2002 that limited Mar-a-Lago's purpose to a social club, the New York attorney general alleges, making the price of nearby residences irrelevant.
Asked if he was ever told about the deed by anyone at the Trump Organization, Birney replied, "I don't believe I was." Instead, he said he first learned about it during an "interview with the attorney general's office."
Court then adjourned for the day, with Birney's testimony scheduled to resume tomorrow morning.