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Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. are not helping themselves by claiming they did not know about documents at the center of their New York fraud case, a former prosecutor has said.
"It's a losing strategy, first of all," said Catherine Christian, a former assistant district attorney in Manhattan. "Accountants prepare financial statements and tax returns based on the information that their clients give them. If the clients give them false information, their tax returns and the financial statements will be false," she said.
Christian was appearing on MSNBC's Ayman Mohyeldin Reports on Saturday and was asked about the legal strategy adopted by Eric Trump and Trump Jr. New York Attorney General Letitia James is suing the brothers, their father Donald Trump and The Trump Organization for fraudulently overstating the value of their assets.
"To say: 'I don't know, it's my accountants,' is just not a defense that's going to work. Not with this judge and not with the appellate in court," Christian said.
She added that James' attorneys were "very prepared for the answers of Don and Eric with document after document and document."
Christian said she was surprised that the Trump brothers were not better prepared for the trial, as every financial statement they were shown had their signature on it.
In addition, state attorneys had emails in which they were included, she said.
"There's going to be an email that's going to have someone talking about a discussion they had with Eric or Don about it. Their testimony was not helpful in any way for their case. Not for them, not for the father, not for The Trump Organization," Christian added.
In a video statement released on Thursday on X, formerly Twitter, James said Donald Jr. and Eric "pretend that they were not involved in their family's fraudulent business. But the facts tell a very different story."
James accused Trump Jr. of continuing to lie to accountants even after he was confronted with an accurate evaluation of his father's triplex apartment.
"He certified to the family's accountants that all the information he sent them was accurate, including the value of the falsely enlarged triplex," James said.
In her video, James then reviewed Eric Trump's evidence, in which she said he had "insisted that he had never heard about his father's statements of financial condition before our investigation."
"He told us his job was just to pour concrete. But his emails tell a different story," James said.
She finished her statement with a warning to Donald Trump, who is expected to give evidence on Monday.
"Next week, Donald Trump himself will take the stand. And while I am sure he will try to hide his wrongdoing behind taunts, threats, name calling, we will not be bullied out of uncovering the truth," James said.
James' lawyers have claimed in court that The Trump Organization's 2011-2021 financial statements included inflated valuations of assets that were then used to get better insurance and loans.
Trump and his adult sons, as well as The Trump Organization, were found liable for fraud in the New York case on September 26, when Judge Arthur Engoron sided with James to find that the former president had inflated the value of his assets by as much as $2.2 billion.
According to the judge, there was "conclusive evidence" that Trump had overvalued many of his properties, including Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and his Trump Tower penthouse in New York.
Engoron rescinded the corporate certifications of the New York corporations at the center of the case, limiting Trump's ability to run his real estate business.
Trump, who has denied any wrongdoing, is appealing. His lawyers wrote in their submissions that they were contesting "each and every part" of Engoron's September 26 ruling.
Trump is the frontrunner in the Republican primary and has accused James of launching the case against him to weaken his position at the 2024 presidential election.
Newsweek has sought email comment from attorneys for Eric and Donald Trump Jr.
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About the writer
Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more