A Florida judge ordered lawyers to stop filing briefs calling President Donald Trump's $1.776 billion IRS deal a fraud on the court, even as she praised their help.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. Williams of the Southern District of Florida issued the order Thursday, telling three separate groups of attorneys that the case was "sufficiently briefed" — while adding that she "greatly appreciates" what they had offered.
Trump sued the IRS in January over the leak of his tax returns, then quietly settled in May for a formal apology and a $1.776 billion taxpayer-funded compensation pool called the "Anti-Weaponization Fund."
The settlement was never shown to the judge. She closed the case — and only then did the Justice Department announce the deal publicly.
Scores of former federal judges, state attorneys general, and former senior government officials flooded the court with briefs demanding that Williams reopen the case and investigate.
"The parties have used this lawsuit as a justification for 'looting' American taxpayers," 35 former federal judges wrote, calling it a "fraud on the court."
Twenty-three state attorneys general called it a "corrupt effort to 'defile the court itself'" — arguing the settlement handed Trump's family immunity from IRS audits with no legal basis.
Former IRS and Justice Department officials — including the agency's former commissioner — argued the deal would enshrine two separate tax codes: one for Trump's family, one for everyone else.
The $1.776 billion fund is now effectively dead, killed by a court order and bipartisan backlash. But a separate addendum signed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche — barring the IRS from investigating Trump, his family, and hundreds of affiliated businesses for any taxes filed before May 18, 2026 — remains in place.
Trump himself had flagged the central problem months earlier.
"I'm supposed to work out a settlement with myself," he acknowledged after suing the agencies he controls.