Ivanka Trump was sued with the former president, her brothers, Trump Organization executives and the company by New York Attorney General Letitia James last year. James’s office alleged a long-running fraud that involved specific illegal acts including the falsification of records.
Trump’s oldest daughter was dismissed as a named defendant in the case by an appellate court in June. Ivanka Trump left the Trump Organization in 2017 to become a White House adviser to her father.
She is expected to be the last witness called by James’s investigation team. She is the last of her relatives scheduled to testify in the case, although the defense may call her brothers Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump and their father back to the witness stand during its presentation of evidence.
Donald Trump has made several appearances at the trial other than when he was required to appear on Monday to testify. Trump at times interrupted his testimony with tangents about what he perceives as unfair targeting by Democratic law enforcement officials, including James.
“This is not a political rally,” New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron said in an effort to control the proceeding. “This is a courtroom.”
Trump said the statements of financial condition at issue in the case were actually downplaying his true net worth and that banks were served with a disclaimer on Trump’s statements that invited them to conduct their own financial analyses of the company.
James’s office built a civil case on the premise that Trump and other executives at the company purposely inflated his annual statements of net worth to deceive banks and insurance companies. In doing so, Trump allegedly obtained more favorable interest rates and insurance premiums on a false basis.
Engoron ruled before the trial that the defendants were liable for an overall civil fraud. The trial is now focused on whether specific illegal acts were committed in the process.
The civil case means none of the individual defendants face prison time. James is seeking the recovery of at least $250 million in allegedly ill-gotten gains and has asked Engoron, who is deciding the matter instead of a jury, to impose severe restrictions on how the Trump Organization can operate in New York.
