A federal judge released former President Trump from a civil contempt finding but ordered him to pay $110,000 in fines for failing to comply with a subpoena to turn over several financial documents to state Attorney General Letitia James.
Judge Arthur Engeron said the contempt charge would be lifted only if certain conditions are met – including that the former president’s team provides the court with a description of the Trump Organization’s document retention and destruction policy and reviewing the remaining five boxes tied to Trump at an off-storage facility by May 20, according to CNN.
Engeron agreed that Trump could place the $110,00 fine in an escrow account until his appeal of the contempt ruling is completed.
‘I want the fine paid. That fine is now $110,000,’ the judge told Trump’s attorney.
If Trump fails to comply with the fee, the judge said he will bring back the contempt finding.
Engeron had issued the contempt finding on April 25 and slapped the former president with a $10,000 a day fine for every day he held out financial documents from James’ investigation into whether the Trump Organization, the former president’s real estate empire, misstated the values of its real estate properties to obtain favorable loans and tax deductions.
Since then, the Trump legal team has been filing a slew of documents to try to comply with the subpoena.
Engeron stopped the clock on the daily fine on Friday when Trump’s attorney submitted sworn statements about his efforts to comply with the attorney general’s subpoena.
A new Trump affidavit claimed the former president no longer possessed the mobile devices James had requested. An outside company told the court it had reviewed 1,300 boxes of documents searching for material that complied with the subpoena but came up empty, according to the New York Times.
The judge had denied a motion to block the fines on May 3, arguing the Trump team had failed to demonstrate they conducted an adequate search.
James has said her probe had found ‘significant evidence’ suggesting that for more than a decade the company’s financial statements ‘relied on misleading asset valuations and other misrepresentations to secure economic benefits.’
James accused the former president of inflating property valuations for financing purposes and lowering them in statements to tax authorities.
The attorney general has questioned how the Trump Organization valued the Trump brand, as well as properties including golf clubs in New York and Scotland and Trump’s own penthouse apartment in midtown Manhattan’s Trump Tower.
She also accused the ex-president of missing a mutually agreed-upon deadline to hand over eight personal financial documents — which Trump’s attorneys claim he simply does not have.
James sought the order with the $10,000 a day fine after Trump failed to meet a March 31 deadline to comply with a subpoena.
Trump has repeatedly denounced James’ probe as a ‘witch hunt’ and accused her of acting out of political bias.
She subpoenaed him and two of his adult children, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., in December. James has been seeking a deposition from all three.
The ex-president’s third-eldest child Eric Trump was questioned by James in fall of 2020.
Trump attorney Alina Habba called James’ contempt request a ‘publicity stunt’ in an April 20 filing and claimed the onus was on his family business to produce the documents.
After a ‘dutiful search’ for what prosecutors were seeking, Habba said he ‘simply did not have any of the requested documents in his personal possession or custody.’
Instead, she claimed ‘all potentially responsive documents were in the possession, custody or control of the Trump Organization.’
She pointed out her client ‘was not obligated to produce documents’ in the company’s control.
Engoron expressed astonishment in his April 29 ruling that Trump couldn’t produce documents.
‘He’s Donald Trump, the most famous real estate developer in the world, arguably,’ the judge said. ‘I am surprised he doesn’t seem to have any documents; they’re all with the organization.’
Trump had signed a sworn affidavit that he didn’t believe he had any relevant documents.
As president, Trump and White House lawyers repeatedly refused to cooperate with a House impeachment probe’s document requests, and several of his former White House aides are battling the House select Jan. 6 Committee over its subpoenas that they testify.
Engoron noted that Trump hasn’t provided any post-it notes even though he is ‘famous’ for using them, as Trump Organization CFO Alan Garten testified.
James’ civil investigation overlapped with a criminal one from the Manhattan district attorney, which was moving toward indicting Trump, before prosecutors grew weary about proving the case.