Florida gubernatorial candidate James Fishback has been ordered by U.S. District Judge Mark Walker of Tallahassee to turn over personal financial records, or else swear they do not exist, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Walker stopped just short of holding Fishback, a 31-year-old hedge fund founder mounting an outsider Republican campaign, in contempt of court in the case — but warned he will face the "wrath of the court" if he fails to comply.
The legal action, said the report, stems from the fact Fishback "owes his former employer, the hedge fund Greenlight Capital, more than $228,000 as part of a federal court order in New York last year. Fishback admitted to sending the company’s confidential information to his own email account and trying to launch his own investment fund while working there."
Additionally, Fishback told the court he no longer works for the investment firm he founded, Azoria Capital.
Fishback has refused to repay the money, saying he doesn't have the funds to do so, and also told the Miami New Times, “I am not going to pay him a penny just because some Democrat judge in New York who has sided against President Trump time and again says that I owe him his attorney’s fees.” His financial accounts have subsequently been garnished, and a Tesla he owned seized and sold by the U.S. Marshals.
"After Azoria did not respond to requests for documents last year, a federal magistrate judge in Tallahassee last month ordered Fishback, as the company’s CEO, to appear before Walker and show why he shouldn’t be held in contempt of court. The penalty for being held in contempt could be fines or imprisonment," said the report. "During a nearly two-hour hearing in Walker’s Tallahassee courtroom Wednesday, lawyers for Greenlight said it’s been 'frustrating' to pursue a debtor who wasn’t complying with court orders."
Fishback has gained a loyal following of younger far-right voters due to his populist stances on the economy and an unabashed pattern of racist remarks toward Byron Donalds, his Trump-endorsed Black primary opponent, as well as other Black people who challenge him generally. Polls broadly show him trailing in the race.
