NY AG Letitia James says Trump's high-priced expert witnesses are helping her civil fraud trial case

• New York Attorney General Letitia James has said Donald Trump's expert witnesses are helping her case.
• She said two experts admitted that the valuations of some of Trump's properties were not proper.

New York Attorney General Letitia James has said former President Donald Trump's expensive expert witnesses are helping her civil case against his property empire, which she alleges has engaged in a decade of fraud.

"Over the past few days, we continue to hear testimony from the defendants' many expert witnesses," James said in a video message posted on X on Friday.

She said one of the experts "admitted that the valuations of some of the properties on Donald Trump's statement of financial condition were neither 'proper,' nor 'reasonable.'"

James said another expert, who's a member of Trump's Mar-a-Lago club, testified that he was personally asked by Trump to "help" in the case when he ran into him at the club.

She added that another Trump expert, an accounting professor, was being paid by Save America, Trump's political-action committee.

The professor testified that the value of Trump's triplex was inflated, James said, adding: "On that, we can agree."

"He also had a lot to say about Donald Trump's statements of financial condition, even though he has not prepared a financial statement since the 1980s," she said about the third witness.

She was referring to Eli Bartov, a research professor at New York University Stern School of Business, who has racked up $877,500 in fees for his testimony.

Of the 11 experts called by the defense, two testified for free, and the rest charged a total of well over $2 million.

"Donald Trump can continue to try to distract from reality. He can continue to call me names. But as the judge said today, 'the standard is truth.' And the truth is on our side," James said in the message.

James' civil-fraud case, which seeks $250 million in damages and other penalties, alleges that Trump and several key executives at the Trump Organization knowingly falsified financial statements and inflated the values of assets to get better insurance and loan terms.

The trial starts its 11th week of testimony on Monday, with the former president expected to take the stand for a third time, this time under his legal team's questioning.

Trump is set to give the final word in his defense against claims his business engaged in a decade of fraud as the New York trial threatening his business empire nears its end.