Trump Organization hit with secret sanctions for slow response to tax fraud subpoenas: court records

The Trump Organization was held in contempt of court and fined $4,000 in a secret ruling made public after two of its affiliates were convicted of tax fraud.

The company owned by Donald Trump was found by Judge Juan Manuel Merchan to have willfully disobeyed four grand jury subpoenas and three court orders that held up an investigation by Manhattan prosecutors, according to a ruling reported by the Associated Press.

The subpoenas were issued in the months ahead of the company's July 2021 indictment on criminal tax fraud charges, and the $4,000 contempt fine is the maximum allowed under the law.

A judge held Trump in contempt in April and fined him $110,000 for taking too long to respond to a civil subpoena issued by New York attorney general Letitia James, who later sued Trump Organization for $250 million for fraud.

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Merchan referred vaguely to the contempt proceeding during the six-week trial, and newly unsealed court documents show he found the company in contempt on Dec. 8, 2021, after prosecutors asked for daily "coercive sanctions" of $60,000 for refusing to turn over subpoenaed records.

The judge found that Trump Organization lawyers were doing the bare minimum to avoid penalties and instead offered "one excuse after another" to forestall compliance.