Nov. 3 (UPI) — An appeals court Thursday denied Ivanka Trump’s effort to win a temporary stay to avoid testifying at her father’s civil business fraud trial in New York. She was ordered to appear Wednesday in Manhattan Supreme Court for in-person testimony.
She had argued in her appeal that testifying in the middle of a school week would put “undue hardship” on her.
But in a single sentence ruling the appeals court denied the motion to stay her testimony pending a full decision on her appeal.
The New York Appellate Division, First Department said, “Application for interim stay pending decision on the motion is denied.”
That denied motion to stay the order for her testimony also sought to delay the entire trial.
New York Attorney General Letitia James called Ivanka Trump to testify and Judge Arthur Engoron ordered her to appear for the testimony in person.
James is suing Donald Trump, the Trump Organization and Trump’s sons for years of systematic business fraud that involved inflating asset values.
Ivanka was dropped as a defendant in the civil fraud trial by an earlier appeals court decision that ruled the statute of limitations had expired for pursuing claims against her.
In a response motion to Trump’s effort to avoid testifying, James said it was “utterly meritless.”
James said that as a former Trump Organization executive vice president Ivanka Trump “has firsthand knowledge of issues that are central to the ongoing trial.”
Donald Trump is scheduled to testify in the case Monday.
His sons Donald Jr. and Eric Trump have already testified. Both said that even though they were high-ranking executives in the company they were not involved in asset valuations.
Judge Engoron has already ruled that James has proven ongoing Trump business fraud that falsely inflated values of Trump assets for years.
James is seeking at least $250 million for the fraud that she asserts inflated Donald Trump’s wealth by $2.2 billion.
