Ivanka Trump’s penthouse price comes under scrutiny in fraud trial

On the first day of a fraud trial against Donald Trump, his company and some of his associates in New York, the court heard testimony about alleged discrepancies in the value of his eldest daughter’s penthouse apartment.

Donald Bender, a former accountant for Donald Trump, said he noticed discrepancies in his finances “from time to time” and once recalled that the valuation of the Trump Park Avenue apartment in Manhattan was different than the one offered to Ivanka Trump Price according to CNN to buy it now.

The New York attorney general’s lawsuit alleges that the Trump Organization appraised the apartment in 2011 and 2012 at a value of “approximately two and a half times the option price offered to his daughter” – $20.8 million Compare that to $8.5 million.

The ongoing trial will resolve outstanding allegations against Donald Trump and his unnamed associates after Judge Arthur Engoron ruled last week that they overvalued several of the former president’s properties – including his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, and his Manhattan triplex in Trump Tower – for financial reasons.

Judge Engoron will hear arguments on the charges, including whether Donald Trump and the other defendants falsified business records after fraudulently overstating his value, filing false financial reports and committing insurance fraud. Donald Trump denied any wrongdoing and described the case as politically motivated.

Newsweek reached out to Christopher Kise, an attorney for the former president, via email Tuesday for comment.

On Monday, Bender said that it was not part of his job to review Trump’s financial reports, but that he changed the value of the asset on two separate occasions, CNN reported.

Ivanka Trump was listed in pre-trial court documents as a witness in the New York attorney general’s impeachment case, having previously been named as a co-defendant alongside Donald Trump, his adult sons and various associates.

A court order filed on June 27 of this year dismissed Ivanka Trump as a co-defendant because the claims against her “arose before…February 2016” and she was not a party to a 2021 tolling agreement between New York and the Attorney General the Trump Organization extends the statutory limitation period for the claims.

Attempting to appear as a witness in Donald Trump’s trial “usually shows some form of cooperation,” a lawyer previously said Newsweekleaving open the possibility that Ivanka Trump could make potentially damaging statements against her family at trial.

Donald Trump and his sons reacted with incredulity to Engoron’s summary judgment, which ordered them to have some of their New York business licenses revoked as a result of years of fraud and to hand over the companies that owned him to independent receivers.

Donald Trump’s lawyers said they would appeal the decision, questioning the figures used to determine that the properties were overvalued on the first day of the trial. The former president himself appeared in court on Monday to, as he put it, “fight for my name and my reputation.”