
An accountant who worked for Donald Trump testified in court on Tuesday that the former president reported negative earnings on his tax returns every year for a decade, with losses for one two year period totalling nearly $1 billion dollars.
From the period for 2009 to 2018, Donald Bender who worked for the Mazars USA accounting firm told a Manhattan court that Trump had “losses for all these years,” according to the New York Post.
Bender was testifying in a tax fraud criminal case against the Trump Organization.
The accountant was the first witnesses called to the stand by the defense. Given immunity for his grand jury testimony, he told prosecutors that for the years 2009 and 2010, Trump reported on his tax returns a loss of nearly $1 billion.
When asked by Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Susan Hoffinger if he recalled that in “2010 Donald Trump had losses of almost $200 million on his personal tax returns,” Bender replied, “I believe so.”
“Do you recall in 2009, Donald Trump had, his personal tax returns had losses around $700 million?” Hoffinger followed up.
“Sounds about right,” Bender answered.
The accountant’s testimony shed light on Trump’s tax returns which the former president for years has tried to keep private.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump must hand over his tax returns to a House committee that has asked for them for over three years.
The court’s decision paved the way for the records to be provided in the near future to the committee, repealing a November 1 temporary stay of the order by Chief Justice John Roberts.
The House Ways and Means Committee has long sought the former president’s tax returns from 2013 to 2018, including some returns from his businesses.
The Supreme Court threw out Trump’s request for an order to prevent the Treasury Department from giving the six years of tax returns to the committee, which is controlled by the Democrats.