Ivanka Trump splits from family and ditches Don Jr. and Eric’s lawyer in $250M lawsuit

Ivanka is now represented by Bennet Moskowitz, who previously served as legal counsel for Jeffrey Epstein's estate

By Tatyana Tandanpolie

Staff Writer

Published April 27, 2023 1:43PM (EDT)

Ivanka Trump (MEGA/GC Images/Getty Images)
Ivanka Trump (MEGA/GC Images/Getty Images)

Ivanka Trump ditched the lawyers representing her and her brothers in the New York Attorney General's fraud suit against the family on Friday, according to Forbes. The attorneys are still defending Don Jr. and Eric.

Attorney General Letitia James filed the lawsuit in September, claiming that former President Donald Trump, along with his three eldest children, his real estate firm and its executives, inflated property values for economic gain, which the defendants deny. James' suit is seeking $250 million in penalties and restrictions on the defendants' business actions in the state.

At the end of September, Don Jr. and Eric Trump hired lawyers Clifford Robert and Michael Farina, who notified the court the following month that they would also be representing Ivanka. They would work alongside her DC-based attorneys Reid Figel and Michael Kellogg, who she hired independently.

Figel wrote to the judge in charge of the suit on March 6 to ask him to delay the trial, stating in the letter that "the complaint does not contain a single allegation that Ms. Trump directly or indirectly created, prepared, reviewed or certified any of her father's financial statements. The complaint affirmatively alleges that other individuals were responsible for those tasks."


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On Tuesday of last week, Ivanka's attorneys withdrew from the case, solidifying the separation foreshadowed by Figel's letter the month prior. That Friday, according to a New York County Clerk filing, Bennet Moskowitz, who previously served as legal counsel for Jeffrey Epstein's estate, told the court that he would be Ivanka's sole attorney and said that her brother's lawyers, Robert and Farina, would no longer be defending her.

The trial is set to begin in October with the suit's discovery period ending on April 30.


By Tatyana Tandanpolie

Tatyana Tandanpolie is a staff writer at Salon. Born and raised in central Ohio, she moved to New York City in 2018 to pursue degrees in Journalism and Africana Studies at New York University. She is currently based in her home state and has previously written for local Columbus publications, including Columbus Monthly, CityScene Magazine and The Columbus Dispatch.

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Brief Donald Trump Jr. Eric Trump Ivanka Trump Politics