President Trump’s sister Maryanne Trump Barry has retired as a federal judge in a move that will end a court inquiry into possible misconduct relating to tax and financial transactions.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that Barry, 82, had retired after filing to officially leave the bench last month. After being inactive for more than two years, she filed for retirement 10 days after a probe into her conduct was announced, according to the Times.{mosads}
In February, the court announced that it was investigating a tax scheme, first reported by The New York Times, in which Barry and her family allegedly accrued millions of dollars in additional wealth from their father’s real estate empire by participating in “dubious” tax strategies in the 1990s.
Barry, according to the Times, was a co-owner of a shell company through which the Trumps allegedly marked up purchases already made by their employees and split the markup without gift or estate taxes. Barry reportedly earned $182.5 million from her share of her father’s empire, according to the Times.
A judicial complaint reviewed by the Times alleged that Barry had committed “misconduct” related to her ownership of the shell company.
In retirement, she is no longer subject to review. The investigation was dropped last week without reaching its conclusion, according to the Times.
President Trump’s lawyer Charles Harder has disputed that the company was set up to avoid taxes.
“The New York Times’s allegations of fraud and tax evasion are 100 percent false, and highly defamatory,” he said, according to the Times.
Barry was originally appointed to a federal court by former President Reagan in 1983. She later joined the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit following an appointment by former President Clinton in 1999.