Judge dismisses Mary Trump’s lawsuit against her uncle Donald Trump
A New York judge has dismissed Mary Trump’s lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, saying her claims were barred by an earlier settlement she reached more than 20 years ago with the Trump family.
Mary Trump, Trump’s niece, had alleged in the lawsuit that she was defrauded of millions of dollars in a family settlement in 2001.
In 2020, Mary Trump sued Donald Trump; his sister Maryanne Trump Barry, a retired judge; and the executor of the estate of her late uncle Robert Trump, alleging that “they devised and executed an elaborate scheme to divert funds from her interests, cover up their scam and deceive her as to the true value of what she had inherited”.
Mary Trump alleged that the full nature of the alleged fraud only came to light after the New York Times published an article in 2018 entitled “Trump Engaged in Suspect Tax Scheme as He Reaped Riches From His Father”, which received the Pulitzer Prize for his explanatory reporting. . Mary Trump provided reporters with 19 boxes of documents she obtained through the 2001 settlement.
At a hearing in January, attorneys for Mary Trump and Donald Trump argued over whether her trial could go ahead.
A judge has now dismissed the case.
The dismissal of the lawsuit is the former president’s second legal victory this week, after a retaliation lawsuit against Michael Cohen was dismissed by a federal judge on Monday. Cohen, a former personal lawyer for Donald Trump, had alleged that Donald Trump, former attorney general William Barr and others had put him back in jail to prevent him from promoting his next book while he was housebound .
A lawyer for Mary Trump said they plan to seek an expedited appeal.
“Yesterday’s decision is both incorrect and disappointing, especially as it has taken us over two years to get to this point. In our view, the court ignored applicable case law and well-founded allegations in Mary Trump’s complaint,” Roberta Kaplan said in a statement Tuesday, November 15.
Citing the age of the defendants and the prospect of Donald Trump launching a third bid for the White House, Kaplan said, “We intend to seek an expedited appeal to the Appeal Division.”
