A professor at the Stern School of Business was paid almost $900,000 to testify at a New York civil trial for former president Donald Trump last week, saying there was “no evidence whatsoever” of fraud in his accounting. The professor, Eli Bartov, said the payment had come from the Trump Organization and Trump’s political action committee, Save America.

The $250 million lawsuit was filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James, and claims the Trump Organization inflated its assets by $3.6 billion in order to improve potential loan and business offers. Trump’s accounting practices allegedly include overvaluing several of his properties, including Mar-a-Lago and Trump Park Avenue, and overrepresenting the size of his Manhattan penthouse to raise the value from $80 million to $180 million. 

In the testimony, Bartov said James’s case lacked merit on the basis of generally accepted accounting principles — the standard accounting guidelines for U.S. companies — claiming no provisions were violated. He acknowledged discrepancies, but argued that they resulted from human error rather than attempted fraud, adding that this type of miscalculation is “inevitable” in accounting.

“My analysis shows the statements of financial conditions for all the years were not materially misstated,” Bartov said in the testimony. “There is no evidence here of concealment.” 

Bartov said that defining monetary value, particularly of real estate, is a subjective process. He praised Trump’s financial documents for their “awesome amount of information” and concluded that they should have been more than enough for Deutsche Bank, which was Trump’s largest single lender from 2011-21, to accurately assess his assets. 

“I’ve never seen a statement that provided so much detail, and is so transparent, as this statement,” Bartov said. “There is no question that the brand value of Mr. Trump, President Trump, is worth billions.” 

Bartov was reportedly paid more than any other of Trump’s expert witnesses, making $1,350 an hour for 650 hours of work — totaling $877,550. The payment was split between the Trump Organization and the Save America PAC, the latter having spent more than $20 million in legal fees in the first six months of the year. 

Bartov has been an accounting professor at Stern for over three decades and served as the Accounting Doctoral Program coordinator from 2001 to 2010. He currently teaches MBA and Ph.D. courses in financial statement analysis, financial accounting and reporting, empirical research in financial accounting, and international accounting and financial statement analysis. His research focuses on generally accepted accounting principles, financial reporting, equity valuation and executive compensation, and he also has experience as a consultant and expert witness in similar fraud cases.

The case, initially filed in August 2020, has seen extensive delays, with Trump persistently referring to it as a “witch hunt.” A month later, Justice Arthur F. Engoron — who is hearing the case — held Trump, his sons and other Trump Organization officials liable for civil fraud. The trial resumed for 11 weeks, with the testimony period ending on Dec. 13. Engoron’s verdict is expected in late January at the earliest. 

Bartov and the university did not respond to multiple requests for comment. 

Contact Dharma Niles at [email protected].