Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are finally getting a dose of their own medicine: the couple is being sued for failing to disclose assets on their public financial disclosure forms.
On Sunday, Washington lawyer Jeffrey Lovitky hit Trump and Kushner with a lawsuit alleging that the couple “failed to identify the assets owned by 30 investment funds the couple had stakes in,” according to Politico. The lawsuit, also alleges that the couple should have declared the value of and income they derived from two “investment vehicles,” which they failed to do.
Apparently on Kushner’s form, in at least six cases, detailed information about his assets are not provided due to a “pre-existing confidentiality agreement.” Lovitky deconstructs that argument and essentially argues that Kushner’s refusal to disclose his assets violates federal law. What a surprise. If Kushner is hiding assets, imagine what Robert Mueller must be uncovering in all of the Trumps’ financial documents…
“The [Ethics in Government Act} does not allow a reporting individual to refuse to disclose the underlying assets of an investment vehicle, on the basis that such disclosure would violate a pre-existing confidentiality agreement. Nor does the EIGA allow a reporting individual to refuse to disclose the amount of income derived from any underlying asset of an investment vehicle, on the basis that such disclosure would violate a pre-existing confidentiality agreement.”
A White House spokesman called the lawsuit “frivolous”, which is exactly what the American public has come to expect from a White House occupied by Donald Trump. Demanding that senior White House officials follow the law and do not compromise the health and safety of our country with undisclosed assets is not frivolous. It’s extraordinarily reasonable.
Politico reports that in some cases, financial disclosure reports may be certified even in instances where information cannot be disclosed publicly due to agreements like the ones cited in Kushner’s report.
Kushner and Trump did not divest from the majority of their assets when he took his position in the White House.
