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

Donald Trump's lawyers decided to cut short their direct examination of former Deutsche Bank vice president Emily Pereless.

Trump's team originally said they planned to shorten their direct examination after Pereless appeared reluctant to answer questions yesterday. Returning to court this morning, they decided to forgo the remaining testimony to avoid "prolonging" the proceedings.

Pereless then faced a short cross-examination about her work attempting to value Trump's Doral golf resort.

Former Deutsche Bank vice president Emily Pereless is scheduled to return to the witness stand for an abbreviated round of questions this morning, after being called as a witness yesterday.

Despite being a witness for the defense, Pereless reluctantly answered questions from defense attorney Jesus Suarez about her work reviewing Donald Trump's finances between 2011 and 2014.

The defense then plans to call to the stand former Deutsche Bank managing director Rosemary Vrablic, who was considered to be Trump's lead banker during the period in question.

Trump's adult children, in their testimony, have described Vrablic as the family's primary contact at Deutsche Bank. A lender with the bank's private wealth management division, Vrablic initially became acquainted with Ivanka Trump through Ivanka Trump's husband Jared Kushner.

Court was adjourned for the day following an afternoon in which Judge Engoron appeared to shoot down one of the defense's main remaining arguments following defense attorneys' request for a directed verdict.

Defense lawyer Chris Kise argued that the state failed to prove that Trump's lenders would have acted differently had they known about the fraud alleged by the New York attorney general -- but Engoron said "the mere fact that the lenders were happy doesn't mean the statute wasn't violated."

Earlier this month, during testimony from the defense's first expert witness Steven Witkoff, Trump's lawyers attempted to argue that Trump had undervalued some of his properties, which balanced out the alleged inflated properties in his statement of financial condition. Engoron, however, declined to allow testimony related to that argument, saying, "The reader of the financial statement has the right to know whether each particular number was accurate."

That same day, Trump's lawyers also presented testimony from expert witness Jason Flemmons that Trump disclosed that the values of nearly 95% of the assets in his financial statements departed from generally accepted accounting practices.

"It's effectively saying, 'User beware,'" Flemmons said.

But Engoron said Flemmons only addressed the methods used in the statements, rather than the numbers themselves, which could have been incorrect.

Defense attorneys are scheduled to call additional witnesses over the next week before Eric Trump and Donald Trump return to the stand as the defense wraps up its case in the next two weeks.

Former Deutsche Bank vice president Emily Pereless, testifying for the defense, appeared reluctant to offer details about the process of reviewing Donald Trump's bank and brokerage statements between 2011 and 2014.

Pereless physically reviewed Trump's bank and brokerage statements with a colleague, according to documents shown at trial, and signed Deutsche Bank credit reports. Despite being called as a defense witness, she struggled to recall any details about the process and appeared uncooperative on the witness stand.

"I analyzed and compiled the information provided," Pereless testified about a 2014 credit report, saying could not recall the specific steps she took in detail.

Defense attorney Jesus Suarez attempted to refresh her recollection by showing her a document titled "DT Due Diligence Items" that listed steps that included reviewing Trump's personal tax reports, understanding ownership structures for assets, and learning of Trump's financial commitments.

Pereless still said she could not recall specific steps cited in the document, and even struggled to confirm who the aforementioned "DT" was.

"I am assuming it means Donald Trump, but I don't recall specifically," Pereless said.

Trump's attorneys said they planned to shorten their remaining direct examination when Pereless returns to the stand tomorrow.