IVANKA TRUMP TESTIFIES IN N.Y. FRAUD CASE
Her father went on the attack. Her brothers backed away. And on Wednesday, Ivanka Trump calmly sidestepped accusations that her family’s business prospered thanks to a lie.
Trump, the fourth member of her family to take the witness stand in the civil fraud case brought by the New York attorney general, was questioned for five hours about her father’s net worth and the loans he received because of it.
While some evidence suggested that she had dealt directly with her father’s annual financial statements, she said that her focus had been elsewhere.
“Those weren’t things that I was privy to,” she said of the statements.
The trial stems from a lawsuit filed by the attorney general, Letitia James, that accuses former President Donald Trump and his family business of fraudulently inflating his wealth on the financial statements.
Ivanka Trump’s testimony presented a stark contrast with her father’s: He spent much of his time on the stand Monday ranting and rambling about the case, which poses a major financial and reputational threat to his company.
Her testimony marked a low-drama conclusion to the state’s dramatic case, capping a parade of witnesses — 25 in 25 days.
Before the trial, the judge overseeing the case, Arthur F. Engoron, found that the documents were fraudulent. The trial will determine the punishment, and James is asking the judge to impose a $250 million fine and a permanent prohibition on the Trump family doing business in New York.
Ivanka Trump played a key role in establishing some of the company’s relationships with lenders — particularly Deutsche Bank — and answered questions about the loan terms.
The attorney general’s team presented her with a 2011 email in which she told a Trump Organization colleague that the favorable terms of a deal would be possible only if backed by a guarantee about her father’s net worth.
“It doesn’t get better than this,” Ivanka Trump said of the generous terms in 2011. “Let’s discuss ASAP.”
The bank’s offer required the Trump Organization to maintain a minimum net worth of $3 billion, excluding any value tied to Donald Trump’s brand, illustrating a central contention of the attorney general’s case: that loan terms were predicated on Donald Trump’s wealth, and that his annual financial statements were submitted each year to uphold those terms.
Ivanka Trump, when asked about the annual financial statements, said, “I don’t recall them having discussed financial statements specifically.”