New York court dismisses Ivanka as defendant in case against Trump family

A New York court on Tuesday said Ivanka Trump should be fired 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 suit, saying that statutes of limitations prevented James from filing charges for transactions that occurred before July 13, 2014, or February 6, 2016, depending on the defendant.

The charges against Ivanka were dropped because they were too old.

The trial against the former president and his Trump organization will begin in October.

Ivanka Trump left the family business in 2016 and served her father as an adviser to his White House.

Her brothers – Donald Jr. and Eric – remain defendants.

James, a Democrat, has said in court filings that her office has found “significant” evidence that Trump’s company “used fraudulent or misleading asset valuations to obtain numerous economic benefits, including loans, insurance coverage and tax deductions.”

James alleges that the Trump Organization exaggerated the value of its assets to impress lenders or misreported what land was worth to lower the tax burden, pointing to financial statements given to banks to secure favorable loan terms and to financial magazines to justify Trump’s place in 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.

James’ lawsuit, filed last September after a three-year investigation, seeks at least $250 million in damages and seeks to stop the Trumps from doing business in New York.

James claimed that Trump “inflated his net worth by billions of dollars” and said his kids helped him do that.

Trump was impeached for a second time in April as part of the lawsuit.

He then answered questions. The first statement was made in August, but Trump was invoking his Fifth Amendment rights.

Donald Trump raises a fist at bystanders as he leaves Trump Tower in August to face a statement from New York Attorney General Letitia James

New York AG Letitia James announced in September that her office is indicting former President Donald Trump and his adult children

The former president has dismissed the charges against him.

He has said James’s investigation is part of a politically motivated “witch hunt” and that her office is “doing everything within their corrupt discretion to disrupt my business relationships and the political process.”

In what was seen as a troubling sign for Trump, Allen Weisselberg, who served as Chief Financial Officer of the Trump Organization for many years, was sentenced in January to five months in prison for evading taxes on $1.7 million in job benefits.

He caved to a 15-year plan where executives received bonuses and perks instead of higher pay to save the company and himself huge sums of money in taxes.

The benefits provided by the company included rent of his Manhattan apartment, car lease for him and his wife, and private school education for his grandchildren.

Weisselberg pleaded guilty in August after paying nearly $2 million in taxes, fines and interest and testifying at the Trump Organization criminal trial, which was convicted on all counts.

In exchange for his testimony, he was offered a five-month prison sentence as part of a plea deal.

In that case, the Trump Organization was fined $1.6 million.

Trump Organization finance director Allen Weisselberg has been sentenced to five months in prison for evading taxes on $1.7 million in benefits. He is pictured in a courthouse in Manhattan before being put behind bars

Alan Weisselberg, the former finance director of the Trump Organization, pleaded guilty in August, admitting that from 2005 to 2017 he and other executives received bonuses and perks that saved the company and himself money. Pictured: Weisselberg is pictured with President Trump in January 2017 in the lobby of Trump Tower, New York City

Weisselberg remains a defendant in James’ lawsuit alleging that Trump and his company inflated Trump’s asset values ​​and net worth.

Weisselberg testified that neither Trump nor his family were aware of the plan while it was taking place.

He told jurors, “It was my own personal greed that led to this.”

But prosecutors said in their closing argument that Trump “knew exactly what was going on” and that evidence, such as a lease he signed for Weisselberg’s apartment, made it clear that Trump “explicitly endorsed tax fraud.”

Attorneys for the Trump Organization have said Weisselberg devised the plan without Trump or the Trump family’s knowledge.