By Jan Wolfe

(Reuters) – Former U.S. President Donald Trump must testify under oath in the New York Attorney General’s civil investigation into his business practices, an intermediate state appeals court ruled on Thursday.

A four-judge panel unanimously upheld a trial court decision from February enforcing subpoenas for Trump and his two eldest children, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump, to provide deposition testimony in Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation.

James stated in a statement that Donald Trump has to comply with the lawful investigation of his financial transactions. “We will follow this case closely and ensure no one can ignore the law.”

Trump’s lawyer Alan Futerfas did not respond immediately to our request for comment.

In January, James said her nearly three-year investigation into the Trump Organization had uncovered significant evidence of possible fraud https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ny-attorney-general-details-possible-fraud-donald-trumps-family-business-2022-01-19.

She described misleading statements regarding the value of six Trump properties and the Trump brand. She claimed that the company could have inflated real estate prices to get bank loans, and decreased them to lower taxes.

Trump released a statement in January calling the allegations false, accusing James with a political agenda and threatening him and his family.