Ivanka Trump’s Strategy of Distancing From Her Father Has Hit a Legal Roadblock

Former president Donald Trump’s eldest daughter Ivanka Trump has seemingly done everything she can to distance herself from her family, but a new court order has pulled her back into the legal drama surrounding the controversial family. On Friday, New York Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that she must take the witness stand in the New York civil fraud case against her father, brothers Donald Jr. and Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization.

Ivanka was dismissed as a defendant in the case back in June, with her lawyer citing the fact that she left her position as executive vice president to the former Trump Organization at the beginning of 2017, just as her father was taking office. She then became an unpaid senior advisor in the Trump White House Administration alongside her husband, Jared Kushner. During that time, the couple reported between $172 million and $640 million in outside income, much of which came from their stakes in Trump hotels.

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She and Kushner then moved to Florida following Trump’s term to continue distancing themselves and their bank accounts from the Trump family. But now, the judge has determined she must testify in one of the former president’s many ongoing lawsuits. The New York civil case accuses the former president of overstating his wealth for years in order to secure loans and deals.

“Ms. Trump has clearly availed herself of the privilege of doing business in New York,” Engoron said, per Politico. The testimony hasn’t been scheduled, and there is a good chance she will try to repeal the decision. Her lawyer, Bennet Moskowitz, told the judge that state lawyers “just don’t have jurisdiction over her.”

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According a filing from the New York Attorney General’s office on Thursday, Ivanka Trump “remains financially and professionally intertwined with the Trump Organization and other defendants and can be called as a person still under their control.” Attorneys go on to say that Ivanka still uses the company to purchase insurance for herself and her businesses, oversee her personal staff, manage credit card bills, and even pay legal fees, per Courthouse News Service.

While she is not a defendant in the suit, it looks like unless her lawyers get really crafty, she will have to take the stand and testify against her family in the civil case sometime next month.

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