The Trump family can cross off one politically charged legal wrangle brought about by a leftist prosecutor.
A New York appeals court on Tuesday removed Ivanka Trump as a co-defendant in a civil fraud lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James in September, according to CNN.
The lawsuit — in which former President Donald Trump, his two adult sons and the Trump Organization are civil defendants — is still on.
In a Sept. 21 news release, James’ office said Trump and associates had engaged in “years of financial fraud to obtain a host of economic benefits.”
“The lawsuit alleges that Donald Trump, with the help of his children Donald Trump, Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump, and senior executives at the Trump Organization, falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to induce banks to lend money to the Trump Organization on more favorable terms than would otherwise have been available to the company, to satisfy continuing loan covenants, to induce insurers to provide insurance coverage for higher limits and at lower premiums, and to gain tax benefits, among other things,” the release said.
The appeals court, however, affirmed that Ivanka Trump wasn’t an agent of the Trump Organization in the relevant timeframe after the company agreed to conditions enacted by the state.
“The record before us … indicates that defendant Ivanka Trump was no longer within the agreement’s definition of ‘Trump Organization’ by the date the tolling agreement was executed,” it found.
“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.”
Donald Trump, the leading GOP candidate in the 2024 presidential race, hailed the appellate court’s ruling in a Truth Social message, calling the case “Election Interference.”
A representative of James’ office pledged to continue the politically charged suit against Trump in a statement provided to CNN.
“There is a mountain of evidence that shows Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization falsely and fraudulently valued multiple assets and misrepresented those values to financial institutions for significant economic gain,” the representative said.
“Those facts haven’t changed. This decision allows us to hold him accountable for that fraud, and we intend to do so.”
The appellate court remanded the claims against the other members of the Trump family to the trial court to “determine, if necessary, the full range of defendants bound by the [August 2021] tolling agreement.”
The civil lawsuit is one in a range of legal inquiries brought by Democrat-affiliated prosecutors against Donald Trump.
Trump faces state criminal charges brought about by George Soros-funded Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who argues that alleged payments to former adult entertainer Stormy Daniels constitute campaign finance fraud.
The former president also faces federal criminal charges for allegedly mishandling classified documents.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
