
A powerful family of oil traders used the late jewelry business of their first daughter Ivanka Trump to cover up around $ 100 million she owed the Commercial Bank of Dubai, GQ said on Friday, citing a June filing. in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The Commercial Bank of Dubai was cleared to subpoena Trump’s former jewelry line after Al Saris, an Emirati family, allegedly borrowed from the bank and failed to repay them.
The Al Sari family are accused of concealing their money by buying diamonds from the Trump company, a company to which they had authorized their name. The family are also said to have bought diamonds from Jacob Arabo, also known as “Jacob the Jeweler”, with the same intention.
Trump and Arabo are not, however, directly accused of wrongdoing. Although court documents do not specifically mention Ivanka Trump by name, they are seeking leave to subpoena Madison Avenue Diamonds, which was the name of the jewelry line before Trump joined with its owner Moshe Lax. .
The summons was reportedly approved in August, but Lax denied being served. Lax has also denied all allegations of money laundering.
Ivanka Trump, partner of Moshe Lax, in legal trouble – The Forward https://t.co/2dmy6wnPGo
– Patricia Neal (@ Patrici97185118) November 3, 2017
“Maybe they bought a piece of fashion jewelry from our old store,” Lax wrote in an email to GQ. “We will fully comply with verifying and providing any information the court may ask of us.”
Lax has been criticized for an assortment of fraudulent business practices, some of which involved Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry. Mahipal Singhvi of KGK – a company that received a multi-million dollar award after Lax, his wife and their companies failed to pay a large sum of KGK diamonds – told Politico in August that “he cheated not only us, he also cheated on Ivanka. ”
Trump referred to his “good working relationship” with Lax in his 2010 memoir, “The Trump Card.” While she explained that he was “struggling” commercially, Trump still admired that he was an “end-to-end entrepreneur.”
“Moshe was looking to take his business to a whole new level,” Trump wrote of Lax in his memoir. “In this way, I guess, we looked a lot alike, trying to make our way along a path made for us by our fathers and trying to expand that path in exciting new directions, which I guess, explains why we came to an agreement. “
Trump entered into his partnership with Lax in late 2016.
It wouldn’t be the first time that one of Trump’s business ventures has been linked to a financial scandal. Trump and his brother Donald Trump Jr. were investigated in 2012 for real estate fraud. The president’s oldest children have been accused of giving false condominium sales figures for Trump SoHo to wealthy investors. The pair avoided potential charges of fraud and theft as the investors involved agreed to a settlement.