Comments by "" (@hewitc) on "See what Eric Trump said about his father's financial statements in court" video.

  1.  kissmyaxe531  Do you tell your accountants to inflate numbers on your balance sheet? That's fraud.
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  2. Exactly. Except the accountant knew he was being lied to and went along with it, so he also committed fraud.
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  3. Should have just asked him "Are 3 lollipops the same as 1 lollipop?"
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  4. Yes, if you told him what valuation he had to put on it. You committed fraud. That's what the trial is all about. Why would the accountant lie on someone else's document? Why would he care?
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  5.  @-danR  At a minimum you would read the bottom line. If the assets on it were worth 1000% higher than they were before, don't you think you would be interested in that? And what accountant would make up super inflated values? There's no motive to do that and you can lose your license.
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  6.  @dougeing6521  By law in the state of NY, condominiums must disclose in their offering documents the square footage of each unit, certified by an architect. This would have been done in the original offering document in 1983.
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  7. Yeah!! These evil employees just went ahead on their own and inflated the owner's assets by 1000% so that the owner could get better deals on his loans. At the risk of going to jail and losing the CPA license. What employee wouldn't do that.... for no personal gain whatsoever? Yeah, that's sounds right. Crazy employees!!!
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  8.  @gerrybailey447  He told his accountant what numbers he wanted. This accountant isn't even well paid. Trump is cheap.
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  9.  @victorjohnson4000  I do, but educate me. What is your qualification?
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  10.  @doug8321  That doesn't make the property tax exempt.
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  11.  @dougeing6521  It's standard in NYC for condos and has been for decades. The sponsors has to get an independent architect to do the survey and the brokers can't exaggerate the footage. Coops and townhouses are not covered by this. A condo offering statement is governed by the Securitites Laws, not just real estate babble.
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  12.  @deniselewis1161  That may be their eventual intention. For now the area is not legally qualified as a "cemetery" under NJ law. You need to file and get approval, not just bury someone. It wouldn't affect the rest of the hundreds of acres of golf course so the savings would be minimal.
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  13. The accountant knew exactly waht he was doing. He did what the boss told him to do. He had nothing to gain but didn't want to lose his job. So he falsified the documents, per Trump's orders, and the son signed them. Because if it hits the fan Donald can throw his son under the bus.
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  14. He had nothing to gain. It was all for the boss's benefit.
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  15.  @shahnulislam9897  Weisselberg has a BS in accounting from Pace University but is not a CPA.
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  16. Trump had crooked outside auditors, so they probably would.
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  17.  @ericeandco  The loan documents must have reps and warranties as to the accuracy of all financial statements. Whether audited or not. Standard legal boilerplate.
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  18.  @dougeing6521  In fact the square footage in the offering statement is on file with the NY Dept of Law, Real Estate Div. and a copy of the book containing this information must be given to every buyer of a condo in the building, even today (the first offering was in 1983).
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  19. I was warned in 1992 by a commercial real estate broker to stay away. Nothing but broken promises and litigation. That's when Donald was a Democrat, so nothing political about it.
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  20.  @IanMcGarrett  No. The accountant committed fraud too, or aided and abetted the fraud by the Trumps. "Signing" is not the only condition to committing fraud.
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  21.  @doug8321  I did. "Indeed, tax documents show the Trump Family Trust has been tax exempt since at least 2016 due to being a “cemetery company”—but the cemetery is listed as being in Hackettstown, about 20 minutes away from Trump’s Bedminster course." If the Trump's filed and got the approval for the Ivana site to be a "cemetery" then "Based on state law, any tax breaks for the cemetery would only apply to the 5,700 square feet, not the entire golf club property, said June Toth, a certified public accountant who provides audit and accounting services to cemeteries in New Jersey."
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  22.  @doug8321  If they got a tax exemption (and no cemetery license has yet been issued) it would only apply to the small grounds of the grave site, not the entire 400 acre golf course. So the tax savings would be a couple of dollars. Not worth the filing fees.
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