Ex-CFO wanted inflated value for Trump Tower, exec says
Trump Organization executive Patrick Birney was once pressured by his former CFO, Allen Weisselberg, to use an unrealistic metric to inflate the value of Trump Tower, Birney testified.
Birney testified that he consulted a generic real estate report to determine a 2.67% capitalization rate to measure the value of Trump Tower -- despite an executive at real estate company Cushman and Wakefield recommending a higher rate, which would have decreased Trump Tower's value.
When Weisselberg and Birney discussed the topic in a Trump Tower restroom, Birney said he encouraged the CFO to use a higher, more realistic capitalization rate that would be more sustainable, in order to maintain the building's value in the future, Birney testified.
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"I think he said, just use 2.67%," Birney recalled. "I said I am fine using that capitalization rate, but I am worried that if we are only using 2.67, the building is so old, next year there might not be a cap rate as low as 2.67."
The New York attorney general alleges that Weisselberg "systematically rejected" multiple valuations of Trump Tower in 2019 that would have lowered its value between $161 and $224 million.
Court has adjourned for the day, with Birney scheduled to continue his testimony on Monday morning.