Court Rejects Ivanka Trump’s Appeal to Avoid Testifying in NY Fraud Case

Ivanka Trump, first daughter and senior adviser to President Donald Trump, listens during a roundtable in the State Dining Room of the White House on May 18, 2020. Doug Mills - Pool/Getty Images

An appeals court rejected Ivanka Trump’s request to not testify in the civil fraud trial against her father and brothers on Thursday night. She had been ordered to do so on Nov. 1 after a hearing before New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron regarding her subpoena from state attorneys even after she was dismissed from the case as a defendant.

“This appeal is taken from each and every part of the Order insofar as it applies to Ms. Trump,” read the appeal, filed by her attorney, Bennet Moskowitz.

Mr. Moskowitz had argued in the court hearing that Ms. Trump doesn’t transact business at Trump Tower, contrary to her subpoena, and New York is no longer her primary residence.

“Since 2017, she’s been there once or twice a year, never for business, to say hello, to people including family members for 15 minutes, 30 minutes, things like that.

“So there is no basis to say a service on an entity at Trump Tower is service on her individually. That’s just wrong,” he said, according to a transcript of the hearing.

Justice Engoron denied the motion, ordering Ms. Trump to appear in person for testimony but scheduling her appearance later than her brothers’ so that the decision could be appealed.

“Plaintiff’s papers make abundantly clear documentary evidence that Ms. Trump owns property in New York and has done business in New York,” he said.

If she testifies, it will be on Nov. 8, after her father’s testimony—which is expected on Nov. 6 and possibly will continue into a second day.

On Nov. 1, her father, former President Donald Trump, blasted the judge for the order.

“Leave my children alone, Engoron. You are a disgrace to the legal profession!” he wrote on Truth Social.

Case

Her brother Donald Trump Jr. took the witness stand on Nov. 1, and will continue to testify on Nov. 2. Eric Trump will testify next.

Last September, the New York Attorney General sued Trump Organization executives including former President Donald Trump and his two adult sons, and Ms. Trump, accusing the former president of defrauding the state by artificially inflating his net worth. Prosecutors argued that banks and lenders took undue risks because the Trump Organization asset values were inflated on the annual statements of financial condition (SFC), and are asking for $250 million in damages and to bar the defendants from doing business in New York for five years.

Justice Engoron has already ordered the cancellation of Trump Organization business certificates and the passing over of those entities to a third party to sell off, but the process has been paused by an appeals court.

Over the summer, an appeals court had put a statute of limitations on the case, and dismissed Ms. Trump as a defendant because of that ruling. Ms. Trump had left Trump Organization by 2016 to take an adviser post in the White House alongside her father.

Attorneys representing the remaining defendants had also opposed state attorneys’ motion to subpoena Ms. Trump to testify, arguing that her role fell outside the statute of limitations.

Statute of Limitations

In June, the appeals court limited the case to transactions completed after Feb. 6, 2016, and claims accrued after July 13, 2014.

The attorney general’s office originally brought for claims related to the SFCs of 2011 to 2021, and have continued to present evidence in court that falls outside the statute of limitations.

Defense attorneys have routinely objected to the entering of such evidence or testimony, but Justice Engoron has continued to allow it, ruling that prosecutors are allowed to present such information if they can connect it to claims accrued after 2014 and transactions completed after 2016.