Court held Trump Org. secretly in contempt
NEW YORK • Donald Trump's company impeded a grand jury investigation last year by repeatedly failing to turn over evidence in a timely fashion, leading to a secret contempt finding and a US$4,000 fine, according to court records made public Tuesday.
The Trump Organization was found to have been “wilfully disobeying” four grand jury subpoenas and three court orders, to the detriment of Manhattan prosecutors who were left ill-prepared to question witnesses, Judge Juan Manuel Merchan ruled.
The subpoenas, issued in March, April, May and June 2021, preceded the Trump Organization's July 2021 indictment on criminal tax fraud charges for helping executives avoid taxes on company-paid perks. The company was convicted this month and faces a fine of up to US$1.6 million.
The US$4,000 contempt fine was the maximum allowable by law.
It's yet another kerfuffle involving Trump and allegations of mishandling or withholding records. In April, a judge held Trump in contempt and fined him US$110,000 for being slow to respond to a civil subpoena issued by New York's attorney general. The former president has also been under investigation for storing classified documents at his Mara-Lago estate in Florida.
Merchan vaguely referenced the Trump Organization's contempt proceeding while presiding over the company's criminal trial, saying he would wait until after it was over to unseal records related to an unspecified proceeding held last year.
In the recently concluded criminal tax fraud trial, two corporate entities at the Trump Organization were convicted Dec. 6 of charges including charges of conspiracy and falsifying business records. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 13. The defence said it will appeal. Trump himself was not on trial.
The company's former finance chief, Allen Weisselberg, previously pleaded guilty to charges that he manipulated the company's books to illegally reduce his taxes on $1.7 million in fringe benefits such as a Manhattan apartment and luxury cars. He testified in exchange for a promised five-month jail sentence.
Meanwhile, U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is overseeing the Department of Justice's investigations into Trump, issued a subpoena to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and authorities in Clark County, Nevada, according to The Washington Post, bringing the number of states to have officials summoned to six.
Smith previously summoned state or local officials in Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin seeking their communications with Trump, his campaign, aides and allies.