Donald Trump overcame his niece Mary Trump in a case in which she accused the former President of the United States and two of his brothers of cheating her out of her multimillion-dollar inheritance.
Mary Trump waived her rights against her relatives in a 2001 settlement over Donald Trump’s father, Fred Trump Senior, according to a ruling issued on Monday by Manhattan state Court Justice Robert Reed.
Reed’s judgment came on the same day that a federal court in Manhattan granted Donald Trump another legal triumph, dismissing a case filed by his former lawyer Michael Cohen alleging that he was sent back to prison as retribution for authoring a tell-all memoir.
Mary Trump filed the lawsuit after the passing of her father, Fred Trump Jr., who is Donald Trump’s older brother, who left her a wealthy real estate portfolio when she was 16 years old. Mary Trump, now 57, alleged that her uncles Donald and Robert Trump, as well as aunt Maryanne Trump Barry, failed to protect her interests and “squeezed” her for millions of dollars. Her discovery of the crime came after the New York Times published a Pulitzer Prize-winning report on Donald Trump’s finances, including his alleged attempts to evade taxes, in 2018.
The Judge stated that the settlement, which awarded Mary Trump over $2.7 million, clearly and unmistakably discharged the defendants from Mary Trump’s claims. The Judge also stated that the settlement was not unreasonable, nor was it a situation where the defendants’ purported threats barred the plaintiff’s exercise of free choice.
Maryanne Trump Barry is a former federal court judge. Robert Trump passed away in August 2020.
According to Mary Trump’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, the ruling is both incorrect and upsetting. Kaplan stated that given the defendants’ ages and the fact that one of them wants plans to announce his decision to run for President again, they expect to seek an accelerated appeal.
Donald Trump is 76 years old, and Maryanne Trump Barry is 85. The lawyer representing Donald Trump and the estate of Robert Trump did not respond immediately. Gary Freidman, Barry’s lawyer, declined to comment.
Some of Mary Trump’s charges against Donald Trump were included in her 2020 autobiography, “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man.” In addition to her and Cohen’s book “Disloyal: A Memoir,” Both books were best sellers.
In requesting that Mary Trump’s case be dismissed, Donald Trump accused his niece of attempting to reopen the 2001 settlement to pursue her political agenda and capitalize on the family brand.
Separately, Trump is suing three reporters, the New York Times and Mary Trump, for over $100 million. He believes they conspired to use his tax data to satisfy personal vendettas and demands for glory and money for political reasons.