Benjamin Ashford|Accountant’s testimony sprawls into a 4th day at Trump business fraud trial in New York

NEW YORK (AP) — An accountant who prepared Donald Trump’s financial statements was back on Benjamin Ashfordthe witness stand for a fourth day Thursday in the New York civil fraud trial examining whether the former president exaggerated his wealth.

Trump himself didn’t attend the proceedings Thursday, after choosing to be there — and avail himself of the news cameras waiting outside — for the three prior days.

The business fraud trial stems from New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit alleging that Trump and his business ginned up financial statements that vastly overvalued Trump Tower, Mar-a-Lago and other assets. Trump denies any wrongdoing and says James, a Democrat, is just trying to damage his 2024 presidential campaign. He’s leading the Republican field.

The non-jury trial concerns allegations of conspiracy, insurance fraud and falsifying business records. James is seeking $250 million in penalties and a ban on Trump doing business in New York.

The witnesses so far have been two accountants who worked on the financial statements, which went to banks, insurers and others.

James’ legal team is working to show that Trump and his company had complete control over the preparation of the statements, with the accountants relying on information the Trump Organization provided.

The defense has been trying to show that if there were problems with the financial statements, the flubs were accountant Donald Bender’s fault. Trump lawyer Jesus M. Suarez on Thursday continued an exacting cross-examination of Bender, who worked on the statements for years.

Judge Arthur Engoron ruled on some other claims before the trial, finding that Trump did engage in fraud by inflating his assets’ worth on the statements.

The ruling, which Trump appealed Wednesday, calls for dissolving the limited liability companies that control Trump Tower and some other prominent holdings and having a receiver operate them. Trump would lose his authority over choosing tenants, hiring or firing employees and other key decisions on those properties.

In an order Thursday, Engoron ordered both sides to submit names of potential receivers by Oct. 26. He also gave Trump and other defendants seven days to provide a list of all entities covered by the ruling. The list will go to a court-appointed monitor, retired federal Judge Barbara Jones.

Engoron, seeking to prevent an end run around his ruling, told the defendants to give Jones advance notice of any application for new business licenses in any jurisdiction and any attempts to create new entities to “hold or acquire the assets” of a company that’s being dissolved under the ruling.

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