Trump would ‘arbitrarily’ inflate net worth: former lawyer

NEW YORK: Donald Trump´s former right-hand man Michael Cohen took the witness stand on Tuesday at the civil fraud case against the former president and said his ex-boss would “arbitrarily” inflate his net worth. 

It was the first face-to-face meeting between the 77-year-old Trump and his former personal lawyer and fixer since Cohen became one of the most vocal critics of the New York real estate tycoon.

The pair mostly avoided eye contact as Cohen testified in the case in which Trump and his two eldest sons are accused of exaggerating the value of the Trump Organisation´s real estate assets to receive more favorable bank loans and insurance terms.

“I was tasked by Mr Trump to increase the total assets based upon a number he arbitrarily elected,” the 57-year-old Cohen, who was once known as Trump´s “pit bull,” told the Manhattan courtroom.

Cohen acknowledged responsibility for taking part in the alleged fraud and said he and former Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg would “reverse-engineer asset classes” to achieve “whatever number (Trump) told us.”