Trump civil fraud case: Judge fines Trump $354M, says frauds 'shock the conscience'

Defense lawyer Clifford Robert filed a letter late Thursday asking Judge Engoron to strike testimony from Trump Organization executive Patrick Birney about an alleged "scheme" to pump former President Trump's net worth.

During his testimony Monday, Birney testified that former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg told him that "Mr. Trump wanted his net worth on the statement of financial condition to go up." The New York attorney general has argued this statement supports the existence of an "illicit agreement or scheme" within the Trump Organization to inflate Trump's net worth.

Describing the statement as "merely a recitation of what Mr. Weisselberg allegedly heard from President Trump without adoption or indorsement," Robert argued that the statement cannot be assumed to be true based on Birney's testimony.

"In any event, there is nothing in the record establishing President Trump actually made the statement to Mr. Weisselberg," Robert added in a footnote to his letter.

Day 14 of the proceedings gets underway following a motion filed late Thursday by Ivanka Trump that seeks to quash three subpoenas that would compel her to testify in the trial.

Donald Trump's eldest daughter, who was no longer a part of the Trump Organization by 2016, was dismissed from the civil suit by an appeals court in June.

But the New York attorney general still plans to call her as a witness in the state's case. In early September, the AG sent subpoenas to three corporate entities affiliated with Ivanka Trump to force her to testify in person.

"The NYAG, which never deposed Ms. Trump, is effectively trying to force her back into this case from which she was dismissed by a unanimous decision of the Appellate Division, First Department," Ivanka Trump's lawyer, Bennet Moskowitz, wrote in Thursday's filing.

Moskowitz argued that the subpoenas should be thrown out since they were not properly served and because the AG lacks jurisdiction to force Ivanka Trump, who is no longer a New York resident, to testify.

"The NYAG knows this, which is why it has subpoenaed three corporate entities as an end-run around its failure to pursue Ms. Trump's deposition when it had the chance," the filing said.

In a Thursday email that was entered as an exhibit to the motion, a lawyer for the attorney general's office indicated they do not plan to request Judge Arthur Engoron hold Ivanka Trump in contempt. They instead plan to file a motion today to compel her to appear in court, according to the email.

Over three hours of testimony, real estate executive David McArdle described multiple phone calls, emails, and meetings with Eric Trump to appraise several of the Trump Organization's trophy assets.

But when prosecutors played a video in court of the deposition Eric Trump gave in the case, the Trump Organization VP said he didn't recall working on the appraisals with McArdle.

"I recognize the name very vaguely," Eric Trump said of McArdle on the deposition video. "I really haven't been involved in appraisal work on this property."

"Do you believe that Eric Trump was not involved in the appraisals you worked on?" state attorney Sherief Gaber asked McArdle.

"No," McArdle replied.

Court was subsequently adjourned for the day.

Cushman & Wakefield executive David McArdle, who was hired to appraise the value of 71 undeveloped residential units at the Trump National Golf Club in Westchester County, New York, testified that he also conducted multiple appraisals for conservation easements at the property in 2014 and 2015.

Signing a conservation easement would allow the Trump Organization to give up their development rights and treat the difference in property value as a charitable donation, according to the New York attorney general.

By giving up the right to develop the 71 residential units, McArdle found that the donation was worth $43 million, according to an April 2014 appraisal. A later appraisal McArdle conducted in 2015 landed on a similar valuation of $45.2 million.

But Trump's financial statements from those years appear to ignore the appraisals, valuing the land from the undeveloped units at $101 million, according to documents entered into evidence.

"Based on the supporting data, the only source for the increase in the number of units and profit per unit were telephone conversations with Eric Trump," the New York attorney general alleged in her complaint.

McArdle also testified that he was consulted to appraise Seven Springs, a New York estate Trump purchased for $7.5 million in 1995.

To value the property, which could be subdivided into 24 to 26 residential lots, McArdle testified that he toured the site, consulted a local expert, and spoke with Eric Trump on multiple occasions.

"He had a very high opinion of the property, which didn't surprise me," McArdle said.

His appraisal ultimately determined the total value for the lots in 2014 was $30-$50 million, McArdle said.

But the New York attorney general alleges that appraisal was ignored in Trump's 2014 financial statement, in favor of a "false and misleading" value of $161 million for a portion of the undeveloped lots.