Former President Donald Trump has been held in contempt of court by a New York judge for noncompliance with a subpoena and for refusing to provide documents he was ordered to produce for an investigation into his business operations.
What Happened: New York State Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron has enacted a penalty of $10,000 per day until Trump complies with the document request made by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who has been investigating the former president, some of his family members and several of his corporate entities for tax, insurance and bank fraud related to Trump-branded real estate holdings.
James reacted to the judge’s decision on Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) by declaring, “Today, justice prevailed. Our investigation into Donald Trump and the Trump Organization’s financial dealings will continue undeterred because no one is above the law.”
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Why It Happened: James subpoenaed Trump and his two oldest children, daughter Ivanka Trump and son Donald Trump Jr., in January after former Trump attorney Michael Cohen testified that certain properties owned by the family-owned Trump Organization were given low valuations in connection to their property taxes but were also given high valuations when the company sought loans or insurance coverage.
In issuing his ruling, Judge Engoron issued stated Trump’s office showed no evidence that it made an attempt to locate the documents requested by James, a Democrat who is seeking re-election this year.
James has been conducting a civil tax fraud investigation into the Trump Organization for the last two years. The former president filed a lawsuit against James last December to stop her civil investigation, claiming that her “her mission is guided solely by political animus and a desire to harass, intimidate, and retaliate against a private citizen who she views as a political opponent.”
Photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr Creative Commons.
