For two months now, failed one-term, twice-impeached, and multiply-indicted ex-president Donald Trump and his attorneys have repeatedly claimed he had absolutely nothing to do with overvaluing his real estate holdings and that those estimates were made by others.
But that defense has now been utterly destroyed by an audio recording uncovered by Forbes which proves Trump did indeed play a role in committing bank and tax fraud by falsifying values of his properties.
Specifically, there’s a financial statement from Trump in which he tripled the size of his penthouse apartment in Trump Tower.
The audio obtained by Forbes shows that as far back as 2015, Trump was bragging (and lying) about his assets, remarking in an interview:
“This is the entire floor of Trump Tower, just so you understand. This isn’t like, I’ll show you. Now, this wraps all around the building. All around the elevators. And I have three times three. So there’s like 11,000 feet on a floor. So I have three. So 33,000—and I have the roof.”
The actual size of the penthouse is 11,000 square feet. Trump tripled it.
The Forbes report continues:
In fact, Forbes uncovered the square-footage discrepancy and informed Weisselberg and McConney that the apartment was 10,996 square feet in February of 2017. The Trump Organization nonetheless continued to use the incorrect square footage on a net-worth statement dated mid-March. Forbes then published an article headlined ‘Donald Trump Has Been Lying About The Size Of His Penthouse’ in May 2017. It was only after that story came out—while Donald Trump was in the White House—that the Trump Organization changed its calculation to reflect the true square footage of the apartment.
Having already been found guilty of fraud by New York Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron, the trial has entered the penalty phase, which could result in a massive financial judgement against the former president and the Trump Organization.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is seeking at $250 million judgement against Trump and his company. Such a finding, along with accrued interest and penalties, would likely result in the financial collapse of Trump Org. and dissolution of the Trump empire.
