He said he relied on the company’s long-time finance chief and outside accountants to verify their accuracy.
James alleges that Donald Trump, his company and executives including his sons exaggerated his wealth by billions of dollars on financial statements given to banks, insurers and others.
The documents were used to secure loans and make deals. James is seeking more than US$300 million in what she says were ill-gotten gains and a ban on defendants doing business in New York.
Before the trial, Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that the defendants committed fraud by inflating his net worth and the value of assets on his financial statements.
He imposed a punishment that could strip Trump of marquee properties such as Trump Tower, though an appeal court is allowing the former president to remain in control for now.
Trump pushes for federal election interference case to be televised
Trump pushes for federal election interference case to be televised
The Trumps have denied wrongdoing. Their lawyers contend that the state failed to meet “any legal standard” to prove allegations of conspiracy, insurance fraud and falsifying business records.
The state rested its case last Wednesday after six weeks of testimony from more than two dozen witnesses. Among them are company insiders, accountants, bank officials and Trump’s fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen.
The trial is proceeding after Engoron rebuffed the defence’s request last week to end it early through what is known as a directed verdict. Engoron did not rule on the request, but indicated the trial would move ahead as scheduled.
Trump lawyer Christopher Kise, seeking a verdict clearing Trump and other defendants, argued last Thursday that the state’s case involved only “successful and profitable loan transactions” and that “there is no victim. There is no complainant. There is no injury.”
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Trump gained over US$100 million through fraud, New York says as civil trial starts
Trump gained over US$100 million through fraud, New York says as civil trial starts
After testifying in early November, Donald Trump Jnr echoed his father’s claims that the case was “purely a political persecution” brought by James, a Democrat, to blunt Trump’s chances as the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
“I think it’s a truly scary precedent for New York – for me, for example, before even having a day in court, I’m apparently guilty of fraud for relying on my accountants to do, wait for it: accounting,” Trump Jnr told reporters on November 2.
On Monday, Trump Jnr was to be questioned first by the defence lawyers representing him, his father and other defendants.
A state lawyer is also expected to question him on cross-examination. Trump Jnr is expected to testify on Monday and Tuesday, followed by a tax lawyer who also testified as a state witness.
The defence also plans to call several expert witnesses as part of their case in an attempt to refute testimony from state witnesses that Trump’s financial statements afforded him better loan terms and insurance premiums and were a factor in deal making.
What are Trump’s plans if he returns to the White House?
What are Trump’s plans if he returns to the White House?
When he became president in 2017, Donald Trump handed day-to-day management of his company to Eric and Donald Trump Jnr and named Trump Jnr as a trustee of a trust he established to hold his assets while in office.
In Donald Trump Jnr’s prior testimony, when asked if he ever worked on his father’s “statement of financial condition”, the scion said: “Not that I recall.”
Trump Jnr said he signed off on statements as a trustee, but left the work to outside accountants and the company’s then-finance chief and co-trustee, Allen Weisselberg.
“I had an obligation to listen to the people with intimate knowledge of those things,” Trump Jnr testified.
“If they put something forward, I wasn’t working on the document, but if they tell me that it’s accurate, based on their accounting assessment of all of the materials. … These people had an incredible intimate knowledge, and I relied on it.”
Meanwhile, Special Counsel Jack Smith on Monday accused Donald Trump of seeking to create a “carnival atmosphere” by calling for his coming trial on charges that he sought to overturn his 2020 election defeat to be televised.
Smith, who is prosecuting the case, said in a court filing that Trump and his lawyers would use a televised trial to distract from the charges and “wage a public-relations campaign.”
Prosecutors working with Smith cited Trump’s conduct in the witness box last week in a civil fraud case in New York in which Trump often refused to directly answer questions and made political arguments, drawing rebukes from the judge.
Trump late on Friday backed an effort by media organisations and press advocacy groups who have argued that broadcasting an unprecedented trial of a former US president and front runner for the Republican nomination in 2024 would be in the public interest.
In a court filing, Trump’s lawyers suggested that prosecutors wanted the trial held “in darkness” as part of what Trump claims is a politically motivated effort by President Joe Biden’s administration to undermine his bid for re-election next year.
Donald Trump as US president again would be the stuff of nightmares
Donald Trump as US president again would be the stuff of nightmares
Prosecutors have opposed the effort, contending that Trump and news organisations have not shown why the court should abandon a long-standing rule barring broadcast of criminal cases in federal court.
Proceedings so far in the case have not been broadcast, but have been covered by reporters with limited seating available for the public in the courthouse.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges that he conspired to illegally subvert the results of the 2020 election, which he lost to Biden.
Additional reporting by Reuters