Donald Trump is calling on Palm Beach broker Lawrence Moens to defend his valuation of Mar-a-Lago in the New York civil fraud case.
therealdeal.com
When Donald Trump needed an expert to value Mar-a-Lago, he turned to a familiar face:
Lawrence Moens, whom he paid $950 an hour for his efforts.
Mar-a-Lago is the former estate of socialite and businesswoman Majorie Merriweather Post is worth $1.5 billion, Trump said in April. He based the valuation on “broker talk,” according to his deposition. Meanwhile, in financial statements, Trump valued the property as much as $612 million.
The attorney general’s expert estimated Mar-a-Lago’s maximum value was $111 million in 2021. The expert, Larry Hirsh, cited a 2002 deed restriction signed by Trump, which stated that Mar-a-Lago intended to “forever extinguish their right to develop or use the property for any purpose other than club use.” Engoron ruled that the Trump Organization could not ignore that in its valuations.
To refute that valuation, Trump tapped Moens, who valued Mar-a-Lago somewhere between $750 million and $1 billion, according to his deposition.
“There’s nothing quite like it, though there are a handful of places in the world. I guess the Taj Mahal in India,” said Moens. “It’s magnificent. One of the greatest structures there is on the planet Earth.”
“As a personal residence, it’s not impractical to think that they can afford to buy it, use it for their own family use,” Moens said of his multi-billionaire clients. “They could do that because I deal with such great wealth, it’s on a magnitude that’s still unbelievable to me, guys with tens of billions or hundreds of billions of dollars.”
The attorney general made a motion to strike Moens’ testimony, arguing that he is not an appraiser. “Mr. Moens’ estimates are based on almost no disclosed data and no verifiable methodology whatsoever,” her motion said. Instead, they are based on “speculation and “fantasy.”
“My numbers are right. My numbers are depictive of what the value of that property is worth much more so than theirs,” said Moens, referring to Trump’s. “They’re off by a mile. They’re not even close. They’re too low. That is my opinion.”
themessenger.com
