Donald Trump's expert witness in fraud trial paid massive amounts to defend him

New York, New York - One of the expert witnesses called to testify during Donald Trump's New York fraud trial has been paid nearly $900,000 to defend the former president.

Eli Bartov, an expert witness for Donald Trump (pictured) in his New York fraud trial, has been paid nearly $900,000 to defend the former president in court.
Eli Bartov, an expert witness for Donald Trump (pictured) in his New York fraud trial, has been paid nearly $900,000 to defend the former president in court.  © SAUL LOEB / AFP

According to The Guardian, Eli Bartov, NYU professor and accounting expert, took the stand on Friday, where he was asked how much he has been paid so far to serve as a witness.

Bartov revealed that he has worked about 650 hours at $1,350 an hour, which comes out to $877,500 earned thus far, paid for by the Trump Organization and the Save America super PAC.

While it is common practice for expert witnesses to be paid for their services, the massive amount paid to Bartov has raised some eyebrows.

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In comparison, the prosecution team has only called one expert witness to the stand during the trial, who has only reportedly been paid around $350,000 for their services.

Eli Bartov was paid nearly $1 million to defend Donald Trump

Trump is being sued by the state for $250 million in damages for allegedly using "fraudulent and misleading asset valuations... to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars in loans and insurance coverage."

During testimony given on Thursday, Bartov shared that he found "no evidence here of concealment" while reviewing some of the financial statements centered around the trial.

Following the testimony, Trump told reporters, "[Bartov] found absolutely no fraud, accounting fraud of any kind. This is a highly respected man. I don't know him, but he's an expert witness."

Cover photo: SAUL LOEB / AFP

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