Trump’s eldest daughter Ivanka has now also testified in the fraud trial against former US President Donald Trump in New York. The 42-year-old testified under oath on Wednesday that she was not involved in the creation of her father’s financial documents, as a journalist from the AFP news agency reported on site. She also doesn’t know the documents – except for what the public prosecutor showed her.
In the civil case, former President Trump is accused of having inflated the assets of his real estate empire by billions of dollars over the years in order to get better conditions for loans and insurance. Ivanka Trump worked for the family holding company Trump Organization for years. She left that role in 2017 to work as an adviser to her father in the White House. She is not a defendant in the New York fraud case.
Her accused brothers Donald Trump Junior and Eric Trump had already testified in court last week, and on Monday it was their father’s turn. When Ivanka Trump was called on Wednesday, Judge Arthur Engoron joked: “Who is she?”
New York State Attorney General Letitia James said before questioning the 42-year-old that Ivanka Trump would “try to distance herself from the company.” “But unfortunately the facts will show that she was in fact very involved.” Ivanka Trump negotiated loans based on fraudulent statements about the financial condition of the family holding company. “She benefited personally from this,” James said.
Judge Engoron had already ruled in advance of the trial that began at the beginning of October that Trump overstated the assets of his real estate and thereby committed “fraud.” The civil process is therefore particularly concerned with the question of how high the penalty will be.
Attorney General James has demanded a fine of $250 million (around €234 million). She also wants Trump and his two eldest sons to no longer be allowed to run companies in New York. The ex-president is not threatened with a prison sentence in this case.
Trump, who wants to run again in the presidential election in a year, has rejected all allegations and described them as politically motivated. In addition to the civil case, he has been charged in four criminal cases. Two indictments concern the Republican’s attempts to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election and thus stay in power.
