Ivanka Trump Gets Massive Court Victory.
Charges against Ivanka Trump
as part of a $250 million lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James have been dismissed.
She, along with her brothers, Eric and Donald Jr., and senior executives at the Trump Organization, were sued by James last September for allegedly aiding Donald Trump in inflating his net worth “by billions of dollars” to in return get more favorable bank loans, to satisfy continuing loan agreements, and to receive better insurance coverage.
The lawsuit was the culmination of a three-year probe by James’ office investigating tax records related to Trump and the Trump Organization, in which they purportedly “knowingly and intentionally created more than 200 false and misleading valuations of assets” to defraud financial institutions.
However, a New York appeals court from Manhattan on Tuesday removed Ivanka Trump from the defendant list and dismissed all claims associated with her due to a statute of limitations. The appellate court reportedly said statutes of limitations prevent James from suing certain defendants over transactions on time-dependent timelines, either before July 13, 2014, or February 6, 2016.
“The court, somewhat reasonably, took a middle of the road approach on just how long the tolling period had been extended for purposes of the statutes of limitation,” attorney Bradley Moss told Newsweek via email. “That approach placed Ms. Trump beyond the reach of the civil claims alleged by Ms. James, but otherwise left Ms. James’ case against Mr. Trump, his sons and his company intact.”
Court documents say that
Ivanka was “no longer within the agreement’s definition of ‘Trump Organization’ by the date the tolling agreement was executed…The allegations against defendant Ivanka Trump do not support any claims that accrued after February 6, 2016. Thus, all claims against her should have been dismissed as untimely.”
The investigation began when the court, as part of a 5-0 decision, according to Reuters, said New York state law gave James the power to police alleged “repeated or persistent fraud or illegality,” and to conduct lengthy and complex investigations many years after the suspected misconduct into the Trumps and/or Trump Organization began.
However, deadlines for her to sue the Trumps could not be extended on the theory they engaged in “continuing wrong.”
An October 2 trial date is scheduled before Justice Arthur Engoron of the state Supreme Court in Manhattan.
It’s yet another legal struggle for Donald Trump, who has been indicted twice since James announced the multi-million-dollar lawsuit last year, including once for alleged hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal before the 2016 election; and more recently for allegedly mishandling classified and secretive documents housed at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida.
Trump, far and away the current front runner for the GOP’s 2024 presidential nomination, is also being investigated for any criminal wrongdoing regarding his role leading up to the January 6 insurrection, as well as allegedly attempting to overturn election results in Georgia following the 2020 election against Joe Biden.
Trump denies wrongdoing in all cases. And in November a lawsuit was filed by Trump’s lawyers against James and her office accusing her of setting a policy of intimidation and harassment in her investigation into his business practices.
“After more than three years of formal investigation, targeted public attacks, and millions of dollars and thousands of hours spent, it is clear that neither President Trump nor any of President Trump’s companies laundered money in any way shape or form,” read the suit signed by Trump’s lawyers on Wednesday, adding that James has “Trump derangement syndrome.”
In January, James asked a judge to sanction the former president, his children mentioned in the suit and the family’s attorneys for “demonstrably false” denials in relation to the suit.
Engoron was the judge previously requested to consider holding a hearing to sanction the Trump family.
