Ivanka Trump quizzed over misuse of inauguration funds after committee 'spent $1m to book ballroom at Trump hotel'
IVANKA Trump has been deposed by attorneys amid a probe claiming her dad's inauguration committee misused donor funds, court papers reveal.
Legal filings allege the committee “grossly" overpaid for the use of a plush ballroom at the five star Trump International Hotel in Washington during 2017.
A new document now reveals the president's daughter- a senior White House adviser – was interviewed by lawyers on Tuesday from the District of Colombia's attorney general's office.
The office has filed a lawsuit accusing the committee of making more than $1m in improper payments to the hotel during the week of the high-profile inauguration.
As part of the suit, they have subpoenaed records from Ivanka, 39, first lady Melania, Thomas Barrack Jr., a close friend of the president who chaired the inaugural committee, and others, reports CNN.
The committee spent more than $1m to book the ballroom as part of a scheme to grossly overpay for party space and enrich the president's own family in the process, alleges D.C.'s attorney general Karl Racine.
He has accused the committee of misusing funds and coordinating with the hotel's management and members of the Trump family to arrange the event.
However, in a statement Alan Garten, of the Trump Organization, said Ivanka's "only involvement was connecting the parties and instructing the hotel to charge a fair market rate, which the hotel did".
District law requires nonprofits like the committee to use their funds for their stated public purpose, not to benefit private individuals or companies, Racine has previously said.
"In this case, we are seeking to recover the nonprofit funds that were improperly funneled directly to the Trump family business," he said in January.
The lawsuit states the event's planner, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff had raised concerns about pricing with Trump, Ivanka and Rick Gates, a top campaign official at the time.
The suit claims Wolkoff had even documented her concerns in an email to Gates and Ivanka in December 2016.
"Ms Wolkoff asked them to 'please take into consideration that when this is audited it will become public knowledge that the locations were also gifted and costs underwritten to lower rental fees'," the suit states.
"The PIC and the Trump Hotel ignored these warnings and went ahead with the improper payments at issue in this case."
Wolkoff wrote a book, "Melania and Me," about her relationship with the First Lady earlier this year.
She will be deposed next week, according to sources familiar with the matter, reported CNN.
The committee raised an unprecedented $107m to host events celebrating Trump's inauguration in January 2017, but its spending has drawn continued scrutiny.
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