A New York court on Tuesday said Ivanka Trump should be dismissed as a defendant in the state’s case against former President Donald Trump and his family business for ‘staggering fraud.’
The court also narrowed Attorney General Letitia James’ civil lawsuit, saying statutes of limitations prevented James from suing over transactions that occurred before July 13, 2014, or Feb. 6, 2016, depending on the defendant.
The charges against Ivanka were dismissed because they were too old.
The trial against the former president and his Trump Organization is set to begin in October.
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner in Spain on vacation
Ivanka Trump left the family business in 2016 and served her father as an adviser in his White House.
Her brothers – Donald Jr. and Eric – remain defendants.
James, a Democrat, has said in court filings that her office has uncovered ‘significant’ evidence that Trump’s company ‘used fraudulent or misleading asset valuations to obtain a host of economic benefits, including loans, insurance coverage, and tax deductions.’
James alleges the Trump Organization exaggerated the value of its holdings to impress lenders or misstated what land was worth to slash its tax burden, pointing to annual financial statements given to banks to secure favorable loan terms and to financial magazines to justify Trump’s place among the world´s billionaires.
The company even exaggerated the size of Trump’s Manhattan penthouse, saying it was nearly three times its actual size – a difference in value of about $200 million, James’ office said.
Filed last September after a three-year probe, James’ lawsuit seeks at least $250 million in damages, and to stop the Trumps from running businesses in New York.
James alleged Trump ‘inflated his net worth by billions of dollars’ and said his children helped him to do so.
Trump was deposed as part of the lawsuit in April for the second time.
He answered questions at that time. The first deposition took place in August, but Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment rights.
Donald Trump raises a fist to bystanders as he departs Trump Tower in August to face a deposition from New York Attorney General Letitia James
New York AG Letitia James announced in September that her office is suing former President Donald Trump and his adult children
The former president has dismissed the charges against him.
He has said James´ investigation is part of a politically motivated ‘witch hunt’ and that her office is ‘doing everything within their corrupt discretion to interfere with my business relationships, and with the political process.’
In what was seen as a troubling sign for Trump, in January, longtime Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg was sentenced to five months in jail for dodging taxes on $1.7 million in job perks.
He admitted to a 15-year scheme where executives received bonuses and perks instead of a higher salary to save the company and themselves huge sums of money in taxes.
The company-provided perks included rent on his Manhattan apartment, car leases for him and his wife, and private school tuition for his grandchildren.
Weisselberg pleaded guilty in August after paying nearly $2 million in taxes, penalties and interest and testifying at the criminal trial of the Trump Organization, which was convicted on all counts it faced.
In return for his testimony, he was offered the five-month sentence as part of a plea deal.
In that case, the Trump Organization was fined $1.6 million.
Longtime Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg has been jailed for five months for dodging taxes on $1.7 million in job perks. He is pictured in a Manhattan court before he was put behind bars
Alan Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer, pleaded guilty in August, admitting that from 2005 to 2017 he and other executives received bonuses and perks that saved the company and themselves money. Pictured: Weisselberg is pictured with President Trump in January 2017 inside the lobby of Trump Tower, New York City
Weisselberg remains a defendant in James’ lawsuit alleging that Trump and his company inflated asset values and Trump’s net worth.
Weisselberg testified that neither Trump nor his family knew about the scheme as it was happening.
He told jurors: ‘It was my own personal greed that led to this.’
But prosecutors, in their closing argument, said Trump ‘knew exactly what was going on’ and that evidence, such as a lease he signed for Weisselberg´s apartment, made clear that Trump was ‘explicitly sanctioning tax fraud.’
Trump Organization lawyers have said Weisselberg concocted the scheme without Trump or the Trump family´s knowledge.
