The lawsuit against the Trump Organization, Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump is scheduled to go to trial on October 2, 2023. The defendants who have denied it all accused last year of committing a decade’s worth of “staggering” fraud, allegedly making over 200 false and misleading valuations from 2011 to 2021, with AG Letitia James charging that “the pattern of fraud that was used by Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization was astounding.”
If the corporation and family are held liable, the state has requested a $250 million financial penalty, as well as the ex-president, Don Jr., Ivanka, and Eric being banned from ever operating a business in New York again.
Clearly, the outcome would be highly embarrassing for the Trumps, which is why both Don Sr. and his eldest daughter have requested that the start date be pushed back. Lawyers for the ex-president have suggested that reviewing the material would take 11,000 hours and that the trial should be postponed by six months. What about Ivanka? Her legal team chose an unusual approach.
Per The Independent:
In court documents, Ms. Trump’s attorneys argue that the fraud complaint filed last year against her and her codefendants by New York attorney general Letitia James “does not contain a single allegation that Ms. Trump directly or indirectly created, prepared, reviewed, or certified any of her father’s financial statements.”
“Other individuals were responsible for those tasks,” her lawyers wrote.
Her father and brothers are the “other individuals” charged in the case, thus this makes sense… The former first daughter appeared to throw her siblings and father “under the bus,” according to The Independent. Setting all that aside, it’s also pretty odd that her lawyers are arguing that the lawsuit does not include a single allegation in which “Ms. Trump directly or indirectly created, prepared, reviewed, or certified any of her father’s financial statements,” when the AG’s office has flatly accused her of being in on the alleged scam.
To wit, James’s office claims in the suit that all three Trump kids “knowingly participated” in the scheme. Of Ivanka specifically, the lawsuit notes her involvement in securing loans to buy Florida and Chicago properties in 2012, loans that were issued in part due to false financial statements.
“On each of those transactions with Deutsche Bank, Ms. Trump was aware that the transactions included a personal guaranty from Mr. Trump that required him to provide annual Statements of Financial Condition and certifications,” the lawsuit reads. (Elsewhere, the suit points to the Trump Organization’s deal obtaining a ground lease for its Washington hotel, noting that project was “captained by Ivanka Trump, and Mr. Trump’s statements were central to their effort to win the bid.“)
Anyway, it’s not clear at this time if the judge overseeing the case will be convinced to delay the trial. In a letter made public on Friday, he wrote: “The core of this case is very simple: plaintiff claims that defendants submitted false financial statements to third parties…. It is their own alleged documents and acts that are at issue…. October 2, 2023, is more than seven months away.” He added, “And with all that has already been accomplished, I see no reason to alter my determination to start the trial on that day.”
