As the civil fraud trial of former President Donald Trump in New York neared its conclusion, the New York Attorney General’s office surprised the defense team by introducing two unexpected rebuttal witnesses.
Kevin Sneddon, a former real estate broker at Trump International Realty, was brought in as a witness to rebut the testimony of Allen Weisselberg, the CFO of the Trump Organization and a co-defendant in the case.
Eric Lewis, a professor of accounting, was introduced as an expert to counter the testimonies of accounting professors Eli Barton and Jason Flemmons, a certified public accountant (CPA).
Attorney Chris Kise, representing Trump, argued that these weren’t appropriate rebuttal witnesses. He argued that the attorney general should have presented them earlier in the case, before resting their case, and insisted that the court should not permit the prosecutors to now “backfill” their case after failing to meet the burden of proof initially.
New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron allowed the rebuttals after Mr. Bartov finished his testimony.
Last week, Mr. Bartov started his testimony, asserting that he found no evidence of fraud or breaches of accounting practices and believed the case lacked merit. He proceeded to elaborate on valuation and