Eric Trump took the witness stand Thursday at the business fraud trial of his father the former President and their real estate company.
Eric Trump is the youngest of three of the former President’s adult children who’ve been called to testify. He took the stand after his brother, Donald Trump Jr., wrapped two days of his own testimony. Their sister Ivanka Trump and the former President himself are scheduled to testify next week.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James is suing former President Trump, his companies and its officers including Trump’s two adult sons over allegations of more than 200 instances bank, tax and insurance fraud over a 10-year period from 2011 to 2021.
Echoing his brother, Eric Trump initially testified on Thursday that he “didn’t know anything about” financial statements.
Stating that he “was 26 at the time,” Eric Trump testified that he had “never worked” on the Trump Organization’s statement of financial condition and “didn’t know about it until this case came to fruition.”
However, after being pressed, he acknowledged he was aware of the company’s statement of financial condition as far back as 2013.
The lawsuit accuses the two Trump brothers of knowingly participating in a scheme to inflate their father’s net worth to obtain financial benefits like better loan and insurance policy terms.
Eric Trump is Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization and his elder brother, Donald Trump Jr., became a trustee of their father’s business when the senior Trump was sworn in as President in 2017.
In September, New York State Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron issued a summary judgment in the civil suit, agreeing with James’ allegations that Trump and his company and officers did in fact commit business fraud during the decade in question.
The summary judgment resolved the key claim in James’ lawsuit, but the other claims remain, including the amount of damages that will be levied. The state Attorney General is suing Trump and the other defendants for $250 million in penalties and a ban on Trump doing business in his home state. The trial could last into December, according to Engoron.
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