Eric Trump is due to testify in an investigation into his family’s businesses next month in New York, a judge rules

ERIC TRUMP MUST testify in a New York investigation into the family’s business before the November presidential election, a judge ruled.

State Judge Arthur Engoron said that President Donald Trump’s son must comply with a subpoena for testimony no later than October 7, adding that the investigation and the court are not “subject to national election deadlines.”

Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, went to court to enforce the subpoena after Eric Trump’s lawyers abruptly canceled an interview in July with investigators in an investigation into whether the family’s business, the Trump Organization, You lied about the value of your assets to obtain loans or tax benefits.

Eric Trump, the company’s executive vice president of development and acquisitions, first received the subpoena in May.

In a court filing last week, his lawyers said he was willing to comply with the subpoena, but only after the November 3 election. In addition to scheduling disputes related to his father’s reelection campaign, they said they wanted to “avoid using his deposition assistance for political purposes.”

At today’s hearing, Eric Trump’s attorney, Alan Futerfas, said they were “happy that he sat down and was deposed,” but that they needed more time before he testified to go through thousands of pages of documents with him. James’s office is searching as part of the civil investigation.

“As everyone knows, there are elections in about four weeks in this country, maybe five weeks,” argued Futerfas. “Eric Trump is a vital and integral part of that, and he travels almost seven days a week.”

Matthew Colangelo, an attorney for the attorney general’s office, responded that Eric Trump’s attorneys had no legal basis for requesting a delay and were doing so “simply for reasons of personal inconvenience to the witness.”

He argued that the typical compliance period that the courts have deemed reasonable is five days.

Eric Trump’s attorneys had proposed four dates for him to testify, the first of which was November 19, which they say is right after James’s office is scheduled to interview other witnesses in the investigation.

Eric Trump changed attorneys in mid-July, Futerfas said, contributing to the need for a delay.

Eric Trump did not participate in today’s hearing, which was held via Skype.

Ms. James went to court to force Eric Trump and other business partners to testify and hand over documents as part of a civil investigation into whether the family’s business, the Trump Organization, lied about the value of the assets, including a suburban New York City property and a Los Angeles Golf Club.

Investigators have yet to determine whether any laws were violated, James’s office said.

James launched his civil investigation of possible fraud in Donald Trump’s businesses in March 2019 after personal attorney Michael Cohen told Congress that the president had repeatedly inflated the value of his assets to obtain more favorable terms for loans and insurance coverage.

James’ investigators are investigating how the Trump Organization and its agents assessed the value of Seven Springs, a 212-acre property north of New York City that Trump bought in 1995 with the intention of turning it into a golf club.

The attorney general’s office is also trying to gather information on the Trump National Golf Club near Los Angeles, where the Trump Organization donated a conservation easement on part of the property in 2014 and received a tax deduction.

And investigators said they were also looking into the circumstances of how the Trump Organization handled fiscal problems related to more than $ 100 million of debt related to the Trump International Hotel and Tower Chicago that was written off between 2010 and 2012.

Investigators said they have not been able to confirm whether part of that forgiven debt was recognized as taxable income, according to court documents.