Ivanka scurries away from paparazzi when asked if she’s “afraid” to testify against her father
Ivanka Kushner Trump had little to say to paparazzi gathered outside Funke’s in Beverly Hills over the weekend as they shouted questions about her father’s current $250 million civil fraud trial happening in New York.
The ex-president and his two adult sons, Don Jr. and Eric, are on trial after being accused of inflating the value of the Trump Organization’s real estate portfolio by billions of dollars a year to secure cheaper rates from banks and insurers.
Justice Arthur Engoron, who has been overseeing the trial, has already found them liable for fraud. Now, he’s reviewing evidence and hearing testimony from witnesses to determine the exact scope of the crimes committed and what the appropriate punishment should be.
Ivanka, who worked as an executive vice president for the family business before quitting to become a senior advisor in the Trump White House in 2017, was initially listed as a defendant alongside her dad and brother, but was able to convince an appeals court last summer to let her off the hook.
That when New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought on the case, added her name to the witness list instead.
The Daily Mail published video of Ivanka leaving Kim Kardashian’s 43rd birthday party at the swanky establishment on Friday night. When a cameraman asked, “Are you afraid to testify?”, the former first daughter refused to acknowledge him as she quickly slipped into the back of a black SUV.
Last week, Ivanka’s lawyers filed a request asking that she be excused from appearing in court. They argued that the 41-year-old heiress shouldn’t have to testify because she’s no longer a defendant in the case and because she doesn’t technically live in New York any more, even though she still owns property there.
“The [attorney general’s office], which never deposed Ms. Trump, is effectively trying to force her back into this case from which she was dismissed,” her team said.
Despite her best efforts to put as much distance between herself and her family’s legal troubles, Ivanka’s name keeps getting brought up in evidence and by other witnesses taking the stand.
During week one of the trial, it was revealed that a Trump Park Avenue penthouse was valued at two and a half times higher in business records than the price Ivanka was quoted when she was considering buying the pad.
The penthouse was valued at $20.8 million on financial documents, but it was offered to her for just $8.5 million.
That’s quite a discrepancy!
Then during week two of the trial, it was revealed that Ivanka was also given the option to purchase another, even bigger penthouse in the same building at an even deeper discount.
That penthouse was valued at $45 million on financial documents, but it was offered to her for just $14.2 million.
In the past, Ivanka has bragged about how her father “wouldn’t just give her an apartment.” Turns out, that was a lie. Or, at best, a partial truth. Maybe daddy didn’t “give” her an apartment outright, but he does appear to have offered her a few different ones at clearance prices.
Trump’s civil fraud trail is expected to last through the end of the year and could result in him being forced to auction off his ill-gotten New York properties.
Speaking outside the courthouse in Manhattan earlier this month, the ex-president said, “This trial is a disgrace. Never happened. Nothing like this has never happened before.” Meanwhile, James quipped to reporters, “The Donald Trump show is over.”
