Ex-Donald Trump lawyer Michael Cohen on Monday elaborated on efforts to boost his one-time boss's ego by hiring a tech company to artificially inflate his fame on a CNBC poll.
Speaking under oath on Monday, Cohen was asked about a tech company named Red Finch that Trump had tried to stiff when he wasn't satisfied with their work.
Trump is on trial for crafting false business records to conceal a hush money payment for an alleged affair. Among the funds that Cohen wanted to be reimbursed for were also the efforts by the tech company.
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According to Cohen, the company was hired because Trump was near the bottom of the list in a CNBC poll asking who the "most famous businessmen" were "in the last century."
According to those listening to Cohen inside the courtroom, Trump wanted the numbers to be higher, so Red Finch was hired to artificially inflate the numbers.
"Through the acquisition of IP addresses, RedFrinch said they create an algorithm to raise Trump in the polls," said Lawfare's Tyler McBrien. "Trump wanted to end up as number 1, but Cohen and RedFinch thought that would be too suspicious, so they settled on Top 10. Kind of like when you're cheating on a test, everyone knows to flub some it to make it believable."
While Red Finch may have done the work, Trump nonetheless refused to pay them after CNBC canceled the poll all together.
"He didn't feel he got the benefit of what the funds were supposed to go to despite achieving #9 in the poll thanks to RedFinch," said McBrien, recapping the statements.
