Former President Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, is trying to separate herself from the allegations made against her and her two brothers, Donald Trump, Jr. and Eric Trump, in the $250 million fraud case filed against the Trump organization.
Ivanka’s lawyer, Reid Figel, filed a letter on Monday to the New York Supreme Court asking the judge to recognize that his client left the family company in 2017 and that the accusations made against her were different from the ones made against her father, brothers, and the Trump organization.
Attorney Figel, speaking about the lawsuit filed by the New York Attorney General Letitia James in September of last year, said that there was no allegation that Ivanka either directly or indirectly created, reviewed, prepared, or certified her father’s financial statements.
The letter emphasized that Ivanka’s factual and legal defenses differ from the rest of the named.
The civil fraud suit names Donald Trump and his three children as defendants and accuses the organization of inflating property assets to encourage banks to lend the company more money. The suit seeks $250 million in penalties and to permanently ban the four defendants from serving as officers or directors in any New York company.
Judge Arthur Engoron, who will preside over the case, said he intends to start the trial on October 2 as scheduled despite numerous requests by the defendants to postpone it by at least six months.
Experts argue that Ivanka’s claim that she never prepared, reviewed, or certified any fraudulent financial records could be interpreted to mean that her father and brothers did.
During Attorney General James’ lawsuit announcement, she claimed that Trump’s children helped him commit fraud and that the family repeatedly filed misleading records.
Donald Trump has denied the allegations and said that AG James is on a witch hunt against him.
Since the announcement in September, Ivanka’s response to the lawsuit has been different from her brothers. She has refrained from publicly blasting the Attorney General on social media and commenting on the case. Her silence has been interpreted as an effort to distance herself from her father.
Ivanka announced her retirement from politics shortly after Trump declared his 2024 candidacy, after previously holding key roles in the Trump administration.
