New York [US], November 3:AFP on November 3 reported that two children of former US President Donald Trump have just appeared in court in a lawsuit in New York state against the family's real estate business, the Trump Organization.
Mr. Donald Trump Jr (46 years old) and Eric Trump (39 years old) are the first family members to provide testimony in court in the case of the corporation accused of inflating the value of its assets by many billions of dollars to receive benefits. Benefits in borrowing money and buying insurance.
The two children are both Deputy General Directors of the Trump Organization , a group of companies that manage residential buildings, office buildings, luxury hotels and golf courses around the world.
Mr. Trump Jr. went to court first and testified that even though he signed the financial reports, he still relied on the expertise of accountants for accuracy.
After that, Mr. Eric Trump went to court and was questioned more harshly by lawyer Andrew Amer of the New York State Attorney General's Office. Mr. Eric Trump said that he "doesn't think I've ever seen or worked on a financial status report".
However, Mr. Amer then released an email in August 2013 when a colleague told Mr. Eric Trump that he was "doing notes in Mr. Trump's annual financial report" and asked for information about the status of Mr. of golf courses.
"We are a massive real estate corporation. We certainly have financial reports," Mr. Eric Trump said. Like his brother, he went on to say that he relied on accounting firms to verify information in financial records provided to lenders and others.
Former President Trump is expected to provide testimony on November 6. His daughter Ivanka Trump, who left the Trump Organization in 2017 to become a White House adviser to her father, is not a defendant in the case but has also been ordered to testify. She appealed the subpoena.
Speaking to court reporters, Mr. Trump Jr. accused the civil case, brought by Democratic New York State Attorney General Letitia James, of "political persecution."
"The banks in question made hundreds of millions of dollars. They did not claim that they were victims," he said.
Mr. Trump and his sons are not at risk of going to jail in this case, but face a fine of up to $250 million and the possibility of being forced out of the family business's management board.
Source: ThanhNien Newspaper