Ivanka Trump, the eldest daughter of former President Donald Trump, is testifying in court on Wednesday about a $250 million civil fraud that threatens her family’s business empire, News.ro reported with reference to CNBC.

Ivanka Trump, who has tried in vain to avoid witnesses, was asked about her involvement in the Trump Organization’s property loans that appear in a case being investigated by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The prosecutor accuses Trump Sr., Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and others of falsely inflating the value of assets to obtain tax breaks and other financial benefits.

In addition to seeking a quarter of a billion dollars in damages, prosecutor Letitia James wants the court to permanently bar the former president and his sons from doing business in New York.

“I discovered this scheme and she personally benefited from it,” James said of Ivanka Trump outside Manhattan Supreme Court on Wednesday morning.

The attorney general said he expects Ivanka to “do everything she can to distance herself” from the Trump Organization during her testimony. But “she is inextricably linked” to the company, James said.

Ivanka Trump was initially named as a co-defendant, but was dropped from the case in June after a New York appeals court ruled that the charges against her were not statute-barred.

Judge Arthur Engoron, who will hand down the verdict in a non-jury trial, has already found the defendants guilty of fraudulently falsifying the value of real estate and other assets on key financial forms.

His pretrial order ordered the cancellation of their New York business certificates, although that decision is pending.

The trial itself will determine how much the defendants will have to pay in damages or other penalties.

The judge will also assess six other pending charges in the lawsuit filed by prosecutor Leticia James.

How Donald Trump defended himself

Ivanka Trump was executive vice president of development and acquisitions at the Trump Organization until 2017, when she joined her father’s presidential administration as a senior adviser.

According to James’ lawsuit, she “negotiated and secured financing” for the company’s properties and “managed all aspects of the company’s properties and hotel management platform.”

She was expected to answer questions about loans for the Old Post Office building — the former site of a Trump hotel in Washington, D.C. — and the Trump Doral property she is credited with negotiating.

She was also expected to be asked about the valuation of her penthouse apartment and her father’s introduction to Deutsche Bank’s personal wealth management team.

Next is Ivanka’s testimony her father on Monday, in which he angrily attacked them Prosecutor James, Judge Engoron and other witnesses as “haters”.

Trump has also repeatedly argued that a disclaimer in his annual financial statements fully shields him from legal liability if the numbers were inaccurate.

“That’s why we have a disclaimer in case of an error. There is a caveat that says the New York attorney general is not obligated to sue you,” Trump said.

But Judge Arthur Engoron has already rejected the interpretation of Trump’s liability. The disclaimer “does not say what the defendants say, does not constitute an actionable waiver, and cannot be used to isolate fraud as to specific facts known to the defendants,” Engoron wrote in his Sept. 26 decision.

Brothers Eric and Donald Jr. have already testified

Last week, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, who led the Trump Organization as executive vice presidents after their father became president in 2017, were called to testify.

Both indicated that they relied heavily on the company’s accountants to prepare annual financial statements and approve valuations.

On October 27, Engoron ordered Ivanka Trump to comply with subpoenas to testify without restrictions.

Ivanka Trump appealed and asked a New York court to temporarily suspend Engoron’s order. Her attorney argued that Ivanka, who lives in Florida “outside the jurisdiction” of the New York court, would suffer “irreparable harm” if forced to testify.

The lawyer also said Ivanka Trump, who has three children, would face an “undue hardship” if she had to appear “in the middle of the school week.”

Some legal experts were quick to deride the argument as a poor excuse to avoid a subpoena, especially for Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, whose combined net worth is estimated at more than $1 billion and could probably afford adequate childcare.