Donald Trump defeats niece Mary Trump in lawsuit over inheritance By Reuters

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Donald Trump has defeated his niece Mary Trump in a lawsuit the place she accused the previous U.S. president and two of his siblings of defrauding her out of a multimillion-dollar inheritance.

In a choice on Monday, Justice Robert Reed of a New York state court docket in Manhattan stated Mary Trump launched her claims in opposition to her kin in a 2001 settlement over the property of Donald Trump’s father Fred Trump Sr.

Reed’s (NASDAQ:) determination got here the identical day a federal choose in Manhattan handed Donald Trump one other authorized victory, dismissing a lawsuit by his former lawyer Michael Cohen over being returned to jail in alleged retaliation for writing a tell-all memoir.

Mary Trump’s case had its roots within the 1981 loss of life of her father Fred Trump Jr., Donald Trump’s older brother, who left Mary, then 16, a worthwhile actual property portfolio.

Now a 57-year-old psychologist, Mary Trump claimed that her uncles Donald and Robert Trump and aunt Maryanne Trump Barry had been supposed to guard her pursuits however as an alternative “squeezed” her out of tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars}.

She claimed she discovered of the fraud solely when the New York Instances revealed a 2018 Pulitzer Prize-winning probe into Donald Trump’s funds, together with his alleged efforts to keep away from taxes.

However the choose stated the settlement, which gave Mary Trump greater than $2.7 million, “clearly and unambiguously” launched the defendants from Mary Trump’s claims.

He additionally stated the settlement was neither unfair, nor “a case the place defendants’ alleged threats precluded the train of plaintiff’s free will.”

Maryanne Trump Barry is a retired federal choose. Robert Trump died in August 2020.

“Yesterday’s determination is each incorrect and disappointing,” Mary Trump’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan stated in a press release. “Given the age of the defendants, to not point out the truth that one in every of them intends to announce in the present day that he’s working once more for President, we intend to hunt an expedited attraction.”

Donald Trump is 76, and Maryanne Trump Barry is 85. A lawyer for Donald Trump and Robert Trump’s property had no quick remark. Barry’s lawyer Gary Freidman declined to remark.

A few of Mary Trump’s allegations about Donald Trump had been in her personal 2020 tell-all, “Too A lot and By no means Sufficient: How My Household Created the World’s Most Harmful Man.” Her guide and Cohen’s “Disloyal: A Memoir” had been best-sellers.

In searching for a dismissal of Mary Trump’s lawsuit, Donald Trump accused his niece of attempting to reopen the 2001 settlement to additional her personal political agenda and money in on the household identify.

Trump is individually suing Mary Trump, the Instances and three reporters for greater than $100 million. He claims they plotted to use his tax information to meet private vendettas and needs for acclaim and cash at his political expense.

The circumstances are Mary L. Trump v Donald J. Trump et al, New York State Supreme Court docket, New York County, No. 654698/2020, and Donald J. Trump v Mary L. Trump et al in the identical court docket, No. 453299/2021.