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Donald Trump Jr distanced himself from the financial statements at the centre of the civil fraud suit threatening his family, saying he relied on outside accountants and the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer to prepare them.
Donald Trump’s eldest son took the witness stand on Wednesday in a trial resulting from a civil lawsuit brought by New York attorney-general Letitia James against the Trump Organization and members of the Trump family. He is to be followed by his brother Eric, his father and sister Ivanka next week.
Donald Jr and Eric took on expanded roles at the family business, the Trump Organization, after their father was inaugurated as president in January 2017. Donald Jr was a trustee of the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust that held most of the company’s assets.
The attorney-general’s case alleges Trump, his eldest sons and his businesses orchestrated a years-long fraud in which they vastly exaggerated the extent of the former president’s wealth and the value of certain assets to procure favourable loans.
Pressed by Colleen Faherty, a lawyer for the New York attorney-general, about his involvement in the preparation of the annual “statement of financial condition” outlining Trump’s wealth, Donald Trump Jr demurred.
“I did not. The accountants worked on it — that’s what we paid them for,” he replied, referring to Mazars, the family’s outside accounting firm. He also noted the role of Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s longtime chief financial officer, who served three months in jail earlier this year for tax violations at the company.
“These people had incredible, intimate knowledge and I relied on them,” Donald Jr said.
The answer came after Faherty confronted him with language included in the annual statement, noting that trustees of the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust were responsible for the document’s compliance with accounting principles.
In previous testimony, Donald Bender, the Mazars accountant who handled the Trump account, explained that the firm did not audit the numbers provided by the company but merely compiled them.
Donald Jr appeared bemused as he strode into the courtroom just before 3pm on Wednesday. Tanned, with his customary slicked-back hair, he wore a dark suit and pink tie. He was not accompanied by his father or other family members.
The graduate of the Wharton business school at the University of Pennsylvania downplayed his knowledge of accounting standards, saying at one point: “Nope. That’s what I have CPAs for.” During a break in the action, he exchanged friendly banter with Faherty.
A quip he made about the proper pronunciation of “revocable” also drew chuckles from Arthur Engoron, the judge who has already found the Trumps guilty of persistently inflating their net worth in order to secure financial benefits. The trial, which began in early October, is to determine whether the former president and his adult sons will have to pay upwards of $250mn in fines.
