The governor said he didn't include the loan because it was from a friend. He did admit, however, that he included more than $100,000 in interest payments as a deduction on his 1986 income tax return, a year in which he paid no taxes.
(Dowd asked the court to declare a mistrial after the government introduced the tax information, saying Schindler had deliberately "poisoned" the jury. Judge Roger B. Strand rejected Dowd's request, but instructed the jury to ignore testimony related to the amount of Symington's taxes.)
Symington's failure to accurately reflect his business dealings on his financial statements carried over to his personal finances. Symington reported on the April 1986 financial statement that his home was worth $800,000, even though he had signed a contract to sell the home in February for $500,000.
Schindler pressed deeper into Symington's real estate schedule, showing Symington was duplicitous when he filled out his real estate values.
Symington testified that he used appraisals to determine the $35 million market value of the Scottsdale Center he listed on his April 1986 financial statement. But Symington departed from using market values when he determined his personal share of the project.
Instead, Symington testified that he used a "hoped for" value of what he thought he would earn at some unspecified time "down the road." Using this methodology, Symington claimed his share in the project was $1 million.
"I viewed my share to be worth $1 million down the road because it was a great project," Symington explained.
Schindler, however, showed the jury that the partnership records for the project indicated that Symington would only net $26,000 if the project was sold for $35 million.
After attacking Symington's nebulous basis for determining his ownership share in the real estate projects, Schindler moved to show Symington would selectively use professionally prepared appraisals.
The governor routinely rejected the values obtained from the Phoenix appraisal firm of Burke, Hansen and Homan, even though he continued to use the firm and pay fees for the reports.
Instead, Symington used his own, higher values for several of his real estate projects when filling out his financial statements. Schindler asked Symington why he rejected an appraisal firm that Symington said was one of the best in the Southwest.
"I feel my opinion should be of equal if not more weight when it comes to valuing a real estate project," Symington testified.
Schindler then guided Symington into 1987, when Symington submitted to lenders two different financial statements dated as of October 30, 1986.
Symington testified that the "as of" date was incorrect on the financial statements and that one statement was simply an updated version of the other. He told the jury he would give the updated version of the statement to the latest lender requesting information.
Schindler, however, showed that Symington provided an October 30, 1986, statement with a net worth of $9.1 million to lenders on February 5, 1987, and May 19, 1987. Symington gave a different October 30, 1986, statement with a lower net worth of $8 million to other lenders before and after May 19, 1987.
Symington had no explanation.
Which is exactly what Schindler hopes to prove during the next few days of cross-examination.
