By Dareh Gregorian —
NBC News
A New York appeals court on Thursday denied former President Donald Trump's bid to avoid having to testify in the state attorney general's investigation into his business practices.
In a unanimous ruling, the panel of judges rejected a legal initiative by Trump and his two eldest children, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump, to block subpoenas from Attorney General Letitia James's office.
All three have worked as senior executives of the Trump Organization, which groups the family's businesses.
Lawyers for the Trumps had argued that the subpoenas should be dropped because their investigation they say is politically motivated and designed to fuel an ongoing criminal investigation of the company by the Manhattan district attorney's office.
Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump's ex-lawyer, testifies before the committee investigating the assault on Capitol Hill
May 22, 202200:24
The court of appeals sided with the Prosecutor's Office, considering that its investigation for tax fraud seems to have been "legally initiated at the beginning and to be well founded."
[Why Bukele's message that went viral on Trump's social network is controversial]
The Appellate Division is the second highest court in the state.
The Trumps could try to appeal the ruling to the Court of Appeals, but would need special permission to do so.
"Once again, the courts have ruled that Donald Trump must comply with our legal investigation into his financial dealings," James said in a statement.
"We will make sure that no one can evade the law," he added.
An attorney for Trump did not respond to a request for comment.
Tuesday's primaries left surprises for Democrats, Republicans... and for Trump
May 18, 202202:07
James' office is weighing whether to file a civil lawsuit against the Trump Organization over allegations that it inflated financial statements.
[Will Trump go back to Twitter if Elon Musk owns it? This is what the experts say]
In court filings, his office alleged that it has "uncovered substantial evidence establishing numerous misrepresentations in Mr. Trump's financial statements provided to banks, insurers and the Internal Revenue Service."
The company has denied any wrongdoing, and the former president has called the James investigation a "witch hunt."
James' office wants to question Trump about several of those statements, which he alleges were inflated by hundreds of millions of dollars and signed by Trump.
Investigators plan to question Ivanka Trump, a former company executive, and Trump Jr, its current executive vice president, about the company's financial operations as well.
Last week, Trump paid a $110,000 fine after being held in contempt for failing to respond to another subpoena from prosecutors.
Trump's attorney, Alina Habba, argued that the contempt finding should be expunged because Trump has done a thorough search and was unable to find any of the documents and information the AG had requested.
James' office said in court filings this week that it is still awaiting information from Trump's former executive assistant.