After publishing a book with controversial revelations about her uncle, Mary Trump, niece of the president, Donald Trump, filed a lawsuit against him and two of his brothers, alleging that the family deprived her of millions of dollars of an inheritance based on lies and deceptions.
In the lawsuit she filed in state court in New York City, Mary Trump seeks damages that were not specified.
"The fraud was not just a family business, it was a way of life,"
read the lawsuit, consulted by The Associated Press news agency.
[Mary Trump is free to promote the book detailing the "cruelty" of her uncle, thanks to a judge's order]
The lawsuit alleges that the president, his brother Robert, and a sister, former federal judge Maryanne Trump Barry, portrayed themselves as Mary Trump's protectors while secretly
taking their share of minority interests in the sprawling real estate. of the family
.
Robert Trump died last month.
"
Instead of protecting Mary's interests, they devised and executed a complex scheme to divert funds from her interests
, hide her complaints and mislead her about the true value of what she had inherited," the lawsuit states.
"The only fraud committed was that of Mary Trump recording one of her relatives," said Kayleigh McEnany, White House press secretary, referring to secretly recorded conversations between Mary Trump and her aunt Maryanne Trump Barry, where the The president's sister said he was a liar without "principles."
"Actually, she discredited herself," McEnany said.
"If Trump is re-elected, it will be the end of democracy in the United States," says the president's niece in her book
July 8, 202001: 51
Mary Trump and her brother, Fred Trump III, inherited several real estate interests when their father, Fred Trump Jr., died in 1981 at the age of 41.
Mary Trump was 16 at the time.
According to the lawsuit,
Donald Trump and his brothers devalued Mary Trump's interests, which included a stake in hundreds of apartments in New York City
, by several million dollars, even before Donald Trump's father, Fred Trump, passed away on June 25, 1999.
[Trump's relatives attempt to stop a book on the president's past fails]
Following the death of the family patriarch, Mary Trump and her siblings filed objections to the will and Donald Trump and his brothers "increased the pressure" for a settlement, leaving their niece and nephew out of health insurance, according to the documents. legal.
He says this represented "unimaginable cruelty" because Fred Trump III's third child, born hours after Fred Trump Sr.'s funeral, suffered seizures and required constant medical care, even for months in an intensive care unit.
Trump's sister calls him "liar" and "cruel" in secretly recorded conversation
Aug. 23, 202000: 52
According to legal documents, when they pressured Mary Trump to agree to a settlement and renounce all interests in the family business,
the uncles and aunt gave false financial statements that underestimated the value of her father's estate by $ 30 million. dollars or less.
“My father died when I was still a teenager, and my uncles Donald and Robert and Aunt Maryanne were supposed to protect me as trustees and trustees.
I recently learned that
instead of protecting me, they betrayed me and secretly worked to rob me, while telling me lie after lie about the value of what I had inherited
and tricking me into giving it all away for a fraction of its true value ”, Mary Trump said in a statement released Thursday.
"I am bringing this case to hold them accountable and get back what is rightfully mine."
With information from AP and NBC News