By JENNIFER PELTZ and MICHAEL R. SISAK
NEW YORK — Eric Trump, one of two sons entrusted to run Donald Trump’s real estate empire, swore Thursday that he was never involved with or aware of financial statements that state lawyers say fraudulently puffed up the ex-president’s wealth and the worth of the family business.
But when a lawyer for New York state lawyer pulled up decade-old emails in which a fellow Trump Organization executive asked him for information needed to complete one of his dad’s financial statements, the irritated son strove to clarify.
“We’re a major organization, a massive real estate organization — yes, I’m fairly sure I understand that we have financial statements. Absolutely,” Eric Trump testified. But, he insisted: “I had no involvement and never worked on my father’s statement of financial condition.”
Eric Trump followed brother Donald Trump Jr. to the witness stand Thursday at the family’s New York civil fraud trial, a prelude to their father’s scheduled testimony on Monday. Both sons are Trump Organization executive vice presidents.
Answering questions for a second day, Trump Jr. also revealed that gaming giant Bally’s recently paid their company $60 million to buy the right to operate a public golf course in New York City. The terms of the lease transfer for the former Trump Golf Links Ferry Point in the Bronx hadn’t previously been disclosed.
The sale came after the city strove to end Donald Trump’s association with the course after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The company managed the 18-hole course, now called Bally’s Golf Links at Ferry Point, until this year.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is suing Donald Trump, his company and top executives including Eric and Donald Jr., accusing them of inflating the ex-president’s net worth on annual financial statements that were given to banks, insurers and others to secure loans and make deals.
The former president and…
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