News broke this week that Mary Trump, the niece of the US president, is suing her uncle accusing him and other members of the family of defrauding her out of her inheritance.
Ms Trump is the author of the book, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man, which claimed to “shine a bright light on the dark history of the [Trump] family in order to explain how her uncle became the man who now threatens the world’s health, economic security, and social fabric”.
Her complaint accused Donald Trump, his sister Maryanne Trump Barry and his brother Robert (who died in August) of “rampant fraud and misconduct”. She claims her inheritance was worth tens of millions of dollars.
Read the story of Donald Trump’s heritage and his Scottish descent through his mother Mary Ann McLeod here.
Mary Trump is the daughter of Fred Trump, who died in 1981 when she was only 16. She said her father left her stakes in the family business that his siblings Donald, Maryanne and Robert were supposed to monitor as fiduciaries.
Mary’s grandfather and the president’s father, Fred Trump, died in 1999, leaving his family a real estate empire.
Ms Trump’s complaint filed in New York, says “Fraud was not just the family business – it was a way of life.”
‘Deceived’ over inheritance
She said the Trump siblings moved to siphon funds away, deceive her about what she should have inherited, and “squeeze” her out. The alleged fraud did not come to light until October 2018 when the New York Times reported its investigation into the Trump family’s taxes.
In recent weeks, the paper published the president’s tax returns—Donald Trump had been the only US president in almost 40 years not to make his tax payments public—revealing that Mr Trump had paid $750 in federal income taxes the year he won the presidency and another $750 during his first year in the White House, while paying no income taxes at all in ten of the previous 15 years thanks to him reporting losing much more money than he made.
Gave everything away
In a statement, Mary Trump says her family betrayed her by telling her lies and conning her into giving everything away for a fraction of its value.
When asked to comment on the situation, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the only fraud committed was by Mary Trump herself when she recorded one of her relatives.
The president is also facing a civil investigation by the New York Attorney General Letitia James into where he inflated the value of his assets to obtain loans and tax benefits.
Finders International trace missing beneficiaries to estates, properties and assets. To see a full list of our services, please visit our website. Alternatively, you can contact us via telephone +44(0) 20 7490 4935 or email [email protected]