Trump fined $10,000 a day for not handing over property documents
Donald Trump has been ordered to pay fines of $10,000 a day by a New York judge for failing to hand over documents to investigators looking into potential fraud at his property business.
In a related decision, a judge also granted the attorney-general’s motion to compel Cushman & Wakefield, which audited several Trump properties, to hand over relevant documents by 27 May.
Judge Arthur Engoron found the former president to be in contempt of court after the Trump Organization missed a deadline of 31 March to meet a subpoena issued by Letitia James, the New York attorney-general.
Donald Trump has been ordered to pay fines of $10,000 a day by a New York judge for failing to hand over documents to investigators looking into potential fraud at his property business.
In a related decision, a judge also granted the attorney-general’s motion to compel Cushman & Wakefield, which audited several Trump properties, to hand over relevant documents by 27 May.
Judge Arthur Engoron found the former president to be in contempt of court after the Trump Organization missed a deadline of 31 March to meet a subpoena issued by Letitia James, the New York attorney-general.
James, an elected Democrat, claimed in January that her civil investigation had found evidence that the company had inflated the value of its real estate assets, including golf courses, skyscrapers and hotels, to obtain bank loans while simultaneously undervaluing the portfolio to reduce its tax burden.
Engoron appeared to address his remarks directly to Trump, although he was not present in the courtroom. “Mr Trump, I know you take your business seriously, and I take mine seriously,” he said, before giving his ruling.
He said that a contempt finding was appropriate because Trump and his lawyers had not shown that they had conducted a proper search for the records sought by the subpoena.
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