Nov. 1 (UPI) — Donald Trump, Jr. will testify Wednesday in the civil business fraud trial of former president Donald Trump in New York.
Donald Trump Jr. and his brother Eric Trump are defendants in the fraud case along with the former president and the Trump Organization. Eric Trump is expected to testify Thursday while Ivanka Trump‘s testimony is set for Friday.
An appeals court removed Ivanka Trump as a defendant. But Judge Arthur Engoron Friday ordered her to testify in person in the trial because sufficient evidence was submitted to prove she has business interests in New York.
New York Attorney General Letitia James asserts that Donald Trump Jr. was involved in the commercial leasing of 40 Wall Street, a Trump asset Engoron has decided was overvalued by over $300 million.
Engoron ruled in September that the Trumps fraudulently inflated the values of their real estate assets for years as he granted partial summary judgment handing a victory to James.
The trial is addressing other elements of the civil case brought by James, including deciding how much the Trumps will have to pay for the fraud and what happens to the Trump business interests as a result of committing the fraud.
According to Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen‘s testimony, Donald Trump, Jr., is at the top of the hierarchy in the Trump Organization and his signature has appeared on financial statements presented as evidence in the fraud trial.
Donald Trump Jr. ran the former president’s trust and certified the accuracy of financial statements between 2016 and 2021, statements that James proved to the judge were fraudulent.
The attorney general’s lawsuit outlined how for decades the Trumps fraudulently inflated and sometimes deflated the values of their assets in order to reduce taxes and get better insurance coverage.
The former president’s sons and daughter are being called to testify by James as part of the prosecution’s case.
Former Trump Organization CEO Allen Weisselberg is also a defendant in the New York civil fraud trial. He was convicted, sentenced to five months in prison and ordered to pay $2 million in taxes and penalties for tax fraud in January.
Weisselberg testified that Donald Trump Jr. and his siblings took on greater roles in the Trump Organization after their father became president.