2023-10-28 03:01:15
NEW YORK — Ivanka Trump must take the stand as a witness in the civil fraud case against her father, siblings and the family business, a judge ruled Friday.
The ruling came weeks after the trial of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, his sons Don Jr. and Eric, the Trump Organization and some executives.
After Ivanka Trump was dismissed as a defendant months ago, defense attorneys and her lawyer argued that she should not have to testify, noting that she moved out of New York and left her job at the Trump Organization in 2017.
The state’s attorneys argued that the former executive vice president of the Trump Organization has relevant information.
Judge Arthur Engoron sided with the state, citing documents showing that Ivanka Trump continued to have ties to some businesses in New York and still owns apartments in Manhattan.
“Mrs. Trump has clearly taken advantage of the privilege of doing business in New York,” Engoron said. She said her testimony would not be scheduled before Nov. 1, to give her lawyers time to appeal.
The civil case, brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, accuses the former president, his sons Donald Jr. and Eric, and the company of exaggerating the patriarch’s wealth for years in financial statements that were provided to banks, insurers and others to help secure loans and offers.
The defendants deny the accusations. Donald Trump, the current Republican favorite for the 2024 presidential election, called the trial a politically motivated “sham.” James is a Democrat.
The former president and his children are expected to testify at some point. In a surprise development, Trump briefly ended up on the witness stand Wednesday to answer Engoron’s questions about an out-of-court comment.
Ivanka Trump’s attorney, Bennet Moskowitz, told the judge Friday that state attorneys “simply do not have jurisdiction over her.”
In June, a state appeals court dismissed the allegations against him as too old. Ivanka Trump announced in January 2017, before her father’s inauguration, that she would be leaving her job at the Trump Organization. She soon became an unpaid senior adviser to the Trump White House. After her father’s term ended, she moved to Florida.
“The idea that somehow Mrs. Trump is under the control of the Trump Organization or any of the defendants, her father… anyone who has raised a daughter after the age of 13 knows that she is not under their control,” said Christopher Kise, the former president’s lawyer.
State attorneys, however, rely on court documents that Ivanka Trump “was a key participant” in many of the events discussed in the case and “remains financially and professionally intertwined” with the family business and its leaders.
“She is 100% someone who can come and testify,” said Kevin Wallace, an attorney with the attorney general’s office.
Kise maintained that state attorneys “just want another pitched battle against another of President Trump’s sons.”
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