Cohen describes ‘gang of four’ cutting insurance deals
Michael Cohen has described how a group of Trump cronies—he, Weisselberg, Trump Organization COO Matthew Calamari, and company executive Ron Lieberman—were assigned to work together on insurance deals.
They were referred to as the “gang of four” or “group of four” by an insurance broker who helped secure coverage for Trump’s various properties. Cohen said that this cohort came together at Trump’s direction.
“All the final decisions were done by Mr. Trump,” Cohen said.
Cohen said that when brokering insurance deals, “there woud be a conversation about his extensive net worth, he’s actually richer than the insurance companies…we’ve got to get a good premium.”
During sit-downs between the group and insurers, Trump would generally show up “three quarters through the meeting;” Cohen appeared to intimate that Trump’s late arrival was meant to convey his importance.
“It was coordinated that he would arrive like that,” Cohen said.
While granular, Cohen’s rundown of how Trump’s cronies handled acquiring of insurance speaks to the Attorney General’s case that they conspired to commit fraud with his knowledge. Remember: Trump is accused of using questionable calculations to puff up his net worth when it suited his financial needs.
Cohen’s testimony clearly spells out how Trump picked a certain group of people–two of whom have pleaded guilty to felonies in relation to Trump–to carry out his wishes with insurance, at his direction.
Proceedings are on pause for at least 15 minutes for a mid-afternoon break.
Key events
Cohen’s testimony about Allen Weisselberg is by no means the first time he has been implicated in his ex-boss’s alleged financial misconduct.
Weisselberg – the former Trump Organization CFO – pleaded guilty in August 2022 to 15 counts in a tax fraud case for receiving $1.7m in untaxed perks, such as free rent at an Upper West Side apartment, from Trump. Under an agreement with Manhattan prosecutors, Weisselberg received a five-month jail sentence on the condition that he testify truthfully at the Trump Organization trial.
Weisselberg took the stand in Trump’s civil fraud trial some two weeks ago; he is also a defendant in the case. During the civil proceedings, Weisselberg was questioned about inconsistencies in financial statements – and whether Trump knew about discrepancies.
Prosecutors presented evidence, for example, that Trump described his triplex apartment as 30,000sq ft and worth a whopping $327m on some financial statements, whereas on other paperwork – such as one document apparently signed by the former president himself in 1994 – stated that this home was less than 11,000sq ft.
On the stand, Weisselberg downplayed the role of Trump Tower in his former boss’ net worth, claiming this hefty valuation comprised “about 1%” of overall net worth – and insisted he focused on business aspects of the disgraced real estate mogul’s holdings. While Weisselberg initially claimed he didn’t recall talking about financial statements with Trump, he later said that from 2011 until 2016, he would give him financial statements before their finalization, NBC News and ABC News reported.
Cohen: Trump would look at total assets and say ‘I’m actually not worth $4.5bn, I’m worth more like six’
Moments after Cohen resumed his testimony against Trump, he immediately detailed his alleged collusion with Weisselberg to gin up the former president’s net worth on financial documents.
“We would take this specific list of assets and we would figure out which specific line to increase the number, again to reverse-engineer … the total assets that Mr Trump sought,” Cohen said.
Referring to the 30 June 2011 statement of financial condition displayed in court, Cohen said they would have taken this document and “mark it up by hand … in able to get the total asset number that Mr Trump asked us to achieve”.
Typically, Cohen said, these spurious adjustments would start with a phone call from Trump’s executive assistants. “I would come into the office, Allen Weisselberg would either already be there, or come with me, and the topic was the statement of financial condition.”
Trump, Cohen said, “would look at the total assets and he would say ‘I’m actually not worth $4.5bn, I’m really worth more like six.’”
“He would then direct Allen and I to go back to Allen’s office and return after we achieved the desir[ed] goal.”
As Cohen testified, Trump appeared to look straight ahead, sitting with his elbows on the defense table, hunched forward. At one point during Cohen’s remarks, he shook his head.
Michael Cohen resumes testimony against Trump
Michael Cohen has returned to the witness stand following the court’s afternoon lunch break.
Colleen Faherty, an attorney for New York attorney general Letitia James’ office, continued to question Cohen on the preparation of Trump’s financial statements.
Prior to the break, Faherty’s questioning prompted Cohen to reveal his familiarity with Trump’s financial statements – and state, under oath, that his ex-boss told him to come up with favorable numbers.
“I was tasked, by Mr Trump, to increase the total assets based upon a number that he arbitrary selected, and my responsibility, along with Allen Weisselberg predominately, was to reverse-engineer the various different asset classes, increase those assets, in order to achieve the number that Mr Trump had [requested,” Cohen testified.
When Faherty asked what sum he and Weisselberg came up with, Cohen responded, “Whatever number Mr Trump told us to.”
Here are the latest pictures from the news wires of Cohen and Trump at the courthouse:
Cohen’s split from Trump came to a head in August 2018. He pleaded guilty in Manhattan to campaign finance violations involving the hush-money payments “for the principal purpose of influencing the election.”
Cohen said he did so “in coordination with, and at the direction of, a candidate for federal office.” Federal prosecutors notoriously referred to Trump as “Individual-1” in charging paperwork against Cohen. In November 2018, Cohen also pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about his former boss’s Trump Tower Moscow project.
Cohen testified against Trump before the House Oversight and Reform Committee in February 2019. “Mr. Trump is a cheat,” Cohen said in a startling opening statement. “It was my experience that Mr. Trump inflated his total assets when it served his purposes, such as trying to be listed amongst the wealthiest people in Forbes and deflated his assets to reduce his real estate taxes.” This testimony was the impetus for New York Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation of Trump—leading to this civil fraud trial.
Cohen would go on to serve approximately 13 months in prison and 18 months under home confinement for his crimes. Cohen has turned into an adamant critic of Trump—and testified before the Manhattan grand jury that handed down a 34-count indictment against him for alleged falsification of business records.
Cohen published a tell-all memoir about his time under Trump, titled Disloyal, in which he slams him as a “a cheat, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a racist, a predator and a conman”. Trump has called Cohen a “rat” and tried to sue him for allegedly “spreading falsehoods…with malicious intent.” Trump recently dropped the lawsuit.
As the court breaks, here is a bit of background on the Trump-Cohen relationship:
In 2006, Cohen started working as Trump’s personal lawyer and served in that role for 10 years, according to The Hill.
After Trump launched his presidential bid in 2015, Cohen assumed the role of an informal campaign adviser. In August 2016, Cohen’s position as an adviser became that of a smooth-operating fixer: He facilitated a $150,000 to ex-Playboy Playmate of the Year Karen McDougal – to keep her from selling a sordid story about an alleged sexual affair with Trump.
Two months later, Cohen arranged a $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep her from talking about a sexual encounter with him 10 years prior.
In February, Cohen said that he paid Daniels with his own money – and insisted that neither Trump nor his campaign instructed him to do so. He also claimed that Trump didn’t cover the payment. That month, the New Yorker reported on Cohen’s McDougal arrangement.
That April, Trump maintained that he was not aware of the payments. When questioned about whether he knew of the transactions, Trump answered “no”. He also said “You’ll have to ask Michael Cohen” when asked why his then-lawyer made said payments, Reuters said.
FBI agents raided Cohen’s office, apartment, and hotel room on 8 April 2018, and seized documents. Trump decried the raid and railed on Twitter that “Attorney-client privilege is dead!”
Trump seemed to stand by Cohen – and believed he would remain loyal. He criticized a New York Times report describing how Trump’s team was poised for Cohen to potentially cooperate with law enforcement. “Sorry, I don’t see Michael doing that despite the horrible witch-hunt and the dishonest media!” Trump ranted.
Their relationship showed signs of intense stress in July 2018, when Rudy Giuliani – Trump’s personal attorney at the time – claimed Cohen taped a conversation with his boss months before the 2016 election. Giuliani said that conversation included a discussion of a potential payment to McDougal. Trump said he didn’t do anything wrong and alleged Cohen’s recording was “perhaps illegal.”
Cohen’s own words also hinted at his leaving Trump behind. He told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that “My wife, my daughter and my son have my first loyalty and always will” and hired a former Clinton administration official to serve as his personal lawyer, The Hill noted.
Adam Klasfeld, senior legal correspondent at The Messenger, also tweeted this from the court:
Mid-afternoon recess in People v. Trump:
Trump reportedly said earlier that Michael Cohen “didn’t have the guts” to show up in court.
Cohen replies.
Back in a few pic.twitter.com/G7MhLDFym6
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) October 17, 2023
Trump says he’s ‘not worried at all’ about Cohen testimony
Donald Trump was also asked how it was to see Michael Cohen again.
The former president replied: “I haven’t seen him in years. And you know his record … his record’s a horrible one.”
Asked whether he was worried about the testimony, Trump said he was “not worried at all”.
Reporter: “How did it feel to see Michael Cohen here?”
Donald Trump: “Uh, well, I haven’t seen him in years. And you know his record. His record’s a horrible one. All you have to do is ask the Southern District of New York … We’re not worried at all about his testimony.” pic.twitter.com/0fCn4i8xQU
— The Recount (@therecount) October 24, 2023
As Michael Cohen left the courtroom for lunch, reporters asked him how it felt to meet his former boss again.
His reponse was brief: “Ha! Heck of a reunion.”
Trump calls Cohen ‘a proven liar’ outside court
Callum Jones
Cohen’s testimony marks the first time they’re in the same room since Cohen turned on his boss. The former executive vice-president at the Trump Organization ultimately pleaded guilty in 2018 to felony charges, including tax evasion and lying to Congress during an investigation of Trump’s ties with Russia.
Trump continued to attack Cohen before entering the courtroom on Tuesday. “He’s a proven liar, as you know, a felon,” the former president told reporters. “We did nothing wrong and that’s the truth.”
Court has broken for lunch. Cohen will resume testifying after the break.
Cohen says Trump tasked him with reverse-engineering asset classes by ‘whatever number Mr Trump told us’
Cohen just provided stunning testimony implicating Trump in fraudulent valuation of properties.
“I was tasked, by Mr Trump, to increase the total assets based upon a number that he arbitrary selected, and my responsibility, along with Allen Weisselberg predominately, was to reverse-engineer the various different asset classes, increase those assets, in order to achieve the number that Mr Trump had [requested,” Cohen said.
When asked what number he came up with, Cohen said, “Whatever number Mr Trump told us to.”
Cohen’s admission came as he was questioned about his familiarities with Trump’s statement of financial condition – which is key to this trial, as the ex-president is accused of fudging to get fraudulent benefits.
“It was to be used eventually for purposes of demonstrating net worth for acquisitions for insurance purpose,” Cohen said.
He explained that in relation to insurance, insurance brokers would come to Trump’s company and permitted to take notes – but they weren’t allowed to keep it.
“The benefit was to show that the assets had extremely high values, with low liabilities in order to obtain better insurance premiums,” Cohen said.
He made the admission when shown a copy of the statement of financial condition on the screen.
As Cohen’s testimony gained steam, he was asked to detail how he met Trump and started working for him. Their relationship, as it turned out, started with infighting among condo board members. Trump, Cohen said, took notice of his mutiny.
Cohen told the court: “I was introduced to Mr Trump through his son, Don Jr, and it emanated from a dispute that took place at one of the properties.”
“I had owned a unit there, family members owned units there, friends owned units there,” Cohen said. “The goal was to remove the board and to replace the board with a more favorable board. We did it successfully.”
“We were asked to handle a few other matters for Mr Trump, which also resulted successfully and ultimately, while sitting in his office, he asked me if I would like to leave that ‘sleepy old firm…’ and join him.”
“You accepted that invitation?” an attorney for Letitia James’ office asked.
“I did.”
Michael Cohen on the witness stand
Michael Cohen is on the witness stand, answering questions about his educational background and prior criminal convictions. When he entered the courtroom moments ago to testify against his former boss, Donald Trump, he walked to the witness stand without fanfare. He nodded at several people in the gallery but did not appear to look at Trump.
Michael Cohen set to testify at Trump’s civil fraud trial
Victoria Bekiempis
Greetings from the downtown Manhattan court where Donald Trump is expected to soon come face-to-face with his onetime consigliere, Michael Cohen, in the ex-president’s sprawling civil fraud trial.
Trump, along with his sons and companies, is accused of unlawfully inflating the value of assets to secure more favorable loan and insurance terms. Cohen is expected to testify about his deep knowledge of the questionable real estate valuations.
“It appears that I will be reunited with my old client @realDonaldTrump when I testify this Tuesday, October 24th at the @NewYorkStateAG civil fraud trial. See you there!” Cohen said last week on the social media platform Threads.
It will be the first time in five years that the two have come face to face.
Indeed, it was Cohen’s startling testimony before Congress in 2019 that spurred a legal inquiry into Trump’s real estate valuations. “Mr. Trump is a cheat,” Cohen told the House Oversight Committee.
“It was my experience that Mr. Trump inflated his total assets when it served his purposes, such as trying to be listed amongst the wealthiest people in Forbes and deflated his assets to reduce his real estate taxes.” New York Attorney General Letitia James opened a probe that March.
Cohen’s testimony is likely to involve confabs between Trump and Allen Weisselberg, his ex-chief financial officer, who provided bombshell testimony in a criminal case against the Trump Organization, as well as general discussion of business valuations. Prosecutors played a portion of Cohen’s deposition in the case during their opening statement in the civil trial.
Cohen said in his deposition that Trump “wanted to be higher on the Forbes list, and he then said ‘I’m actually not worth $6 billion. I’m worth seven. In fact, I think it’s actually now worth eight, with everything that’s going on.’”
“Allen and I were tasked with taking the assets, increasing each of those asset classes, in order to accommodate that $8 billion number,” he also said, per ABC News.
A Covid delay at the court on Monday means a previous witness will have to finish their testimony first. But we’ll bring you the latest updates from Cohen’s testimony and any other trial news as we get them.