Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Reuters/Getty
When a state appellate court in New York last month dismissed Ivanka Trump from a massive fraud lawsuit, effectively taking her out of the New York attorney general’s sights, the decision gave the rest of her family something of a gift: a way to weaken the case that seeks to destroy the Trump Organization.
On June 27, a five-judge appellate panel at New York’s First Judicial Department drew a cutoff in the long timeline of the Trumps’ alleged fraud, saying that an entire slate of accusations are simply too old to sue over. And that ruling has opened the door to pare down AG Letitia James’ lawsuit.
“The time has rung,” said Cardozo Law School professor Alexander A. Reinert, who reviewed the appellate opinion. “It gives an opportunity to the defendants to whittle down the claims.”