Ivanka is being dragged by the hair into the middle of her dad’s fraud trial

Ivanka Trump Kushner may have successfully weaseled her way out of being named as a defendant in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ $250 million civil fraud lawsuit against the Trump Organization, but that hasn’t prevented her from being thrust into the middle of the trial anyway.

Last week, the former first daughter, who worked as an executive vice president for the family business before quitting to become a senior advisor in the Trump White House, found her name on the list witnesses submitted by James to the Superior Court of New York County.

Gulp.

It’s unknown when she will be called to testify, but her name has already been brought up in testimony from other witnesses.

Yesterday, on day two of the trial, the court heard from Donald Bender, a former accountant for the ex-president, who said under oath that he noticed a Trump Park Avenue penthouse valued at two and a half times higher in business records than the price Ivanka was quoted when she was considering buying the apartment.

According to Bender, Ivanka’s penthouse was valued at $20.8 million on the financial documents, but it was offered to her for just $8.5 million.

That’s quite a discrepancy!

And that’s just one apartment in one of Trump’s properties.

The ex-president and his two adult sons, Don Jr. and Eric, are accused of inflating the value of their 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.

James has asked that the one-term, twice-impeached, quadruple-indicted ex-president and his sons be fined $250 million and be barred from ever conducting business in the state of New York ever again. Trump could also lose his New York properties, including Trump Tower and Trump Park Avenue.

Now, back to Ivanka.

Prior to landing on the witness list last week, she was a named defendant in the case, but she managed to convince an appeals court to dismiss the charges against her by essentially throwing her dad and brothers under the bus earlier this year.

In April, she ditched the team of lawyers she had been sharing with them and hired her own attorney, Bennet Moskowitz, who is perhaps most famous for representing the estate of Jeffrey Epstein.

In May, Moskowitz argued that James’ lawsuit “does not contain a single allegation that Ms. Trump directly or indirectly created, prepared, reviewed, or certified any of her father’s financial statements.”

“Other individuals were responsible for those tasks,” he told the court. (The “other individuals” presumably being Ivanka’s family members.)

And in June, the New York appeals court ultimately determined the statutes of limitations had run out so Ivanka could no longer be charged, earning her the nickname “Teflon Ivanka”, to go along with her “#UnwantedIvanka” and “Nepotism Barbie” monikers.

Day three of the trial kicked off this morning. Yesterday, the ex-president, who has vowed to take the witness stand “at the appropriate time”, was gag-ordered by Judge Engoron after he attacked one of his clerks on social media.

Speaking outside the courthouse yesterday, Trump said, “This trial is a disgrace. Never happened. Nothing like this has never happened before.”

Related:

Holy sh*t, Ivanka’s name just landed on the witness list by prosecutors in the fraud lawsuit against her family

This sounds like it’s gonna be messy.