It has come to light that the Accounting Professor Eli Bartov was paid almost a million dollars as an expert witness at former President Donald Trump’s fraud trial — half of which was paid by Trump’s political PAC via Mediaite.
It is noted that Trump was in court once again this week for the trial in the fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James and presided over by Judge Engoron, where reporters peppered him with questions.
He ignored the questions and launched into a litany of well-worn and false or misleading attacks on the proceeding against him, and gushed at length about the testimony of his expert witness.
However, in the courtroom, Bartov revealed that he was paid $900,000.00 for his testimony — half of which was billed to Trump’s Save America PAC.
From NBC News:
An expert witness in the $250 million civil fraud trial against Donald Trump said in court Friday that the former president’s political action committee has paid for a portion of his fees to testify on behalf of the defense.
Eli Bartov, an accounting professor at New York University, said that his $900,000 in compensation was split between the Trump Organization and Trump’s Save America PAC.
While it’s not unusual for a defendant in a trial to pay expert witness fees — in this case, the Trump Organization — the use of campaign-oriented funds underscores the large amount of money being spent by Trump’s PAC on his legal battles.
On Saturday’s edition of MSNBC’s Alex Witt Reports, host Alex Witt asked correspondent Chloe Atkins for her firsthand account of what happened in court:
ALEX WITT: You’ve been in this courtroom. You’ve been covering this trial. Let’s begin with this fascinating wrinkle from yesterday. And it goes like this.
Trump’s key expert witness, as you know, said that Trump’s political action committee paid a big portion of the nearly $900,000. That was a fee that he charged in order to testify on behalf of the defense. So what did he say about these payments?
CHLOE ATKINS: So, as you said, Trump’s key star witness, which is an NYU accounting professor, conceded on the stand, it was this major development, that his fees for testifying on behalf of the defense were split between the Trump Organization, which is the defendant, and Trump’s PAC.
Now, I want to remind folks that it’s not unusual for a defendant to pay an expert witness to testify on their behalf during a trial. However, it does show this pattern from Trump’s PAC paying his legal bills and his legal battles that have been taking place for some time now.
Now, this accounting expert said on the stand that he would invoice the Trump organization, but then the bank statements would either say that they were paid by the Trump Organization or Trump’s PAC, Save America.
