A New York appeals court has limited the scope of a civil lawsuit accusing former President Donald Trump and his family of “staggering” fraud.
On Tuesday, the court said that New York Attorney General Letitia James must exclude from her suit transactions that took place before July 13, 2014, or February 6, 2016, depending on the defendant. The court also dismissed claims against Trump’s daughter Ivanka.
The Appellate Division in Manhattan said James has the power to sue over “repeated or persistent fraud or illegality”, but that the allegations against Ivanka were too old and should have been dismissed.
James first filed the lawsuit against Trump in September, accusing the Trump Organization of “numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation”. The suit seeks $250m in damages and proposes to bar the Trumps from running businesses in New York.
“Trump variously unlawfully inflated and deflated his net worth by billions to obtain and satisfy loans, get insurance benefits, and pay lower taxes,” James said at the time. “In short, he lied to gain massive financial benefits for himself.”
The suit initially named Trump’s daughter Ivanka and two of his sons, Donald Jr and Eric.
Trump testified in the case in April. On the day of his deposition, he wrote in a social media post on Truth Social that he had done nothing wrong and denounced James’s “persecution” of him. He also said the suit would be an opportunity to show that he had built a “great, profitable, and valuable company”.
Trump’s lawyer Christopher Kise also accused James of trying to “interject” herself into private business affairs during oral arguments earlier this month.
Trump had previously met James’s lawyers in August for a deposition but largely refused to answer any questions beyond a handful of procedural matters. The trial is expected to begin in October before the state Supreme Court in Manhattan.
Tuesday’s decision to narrow the civil suit came as the former president continued to face a long list of legal issues, from federal charges that he mishandled classified documents to state charges of falsifying business records.
A panel in Georgia is also investigating Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election by asking officials in the key swing state to “find” him enough votes to reverse his loss.
And Trump also faces a continuing civil defamation lawsuit from the writer E Jean Carroll. A grand jury previously found in favour of Carroll in a separate suit, determining that Trump was liable for sexual abuse and defamation.
Trump, the Republican frontrunner in the 2024 presidential race, has dismissed his numerous legal woes as a plot orchestrated by his rivals to derail his candidacy.
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