The Associated Press reported yesterday that the Trump Organization was found to be in criminal contempt of court by a NY state judge in Dec. 2021. The secret ruling was only made public yesterday. (AP story here: apnews.com/...)
As part of the Manhattan prosecution of the Trump Organization brought by NYC DA Alvin Bragg, Judge Juan Merchan ruled in Dec. 2021 that the Trump Organization was in criminal contempt of court for “willfully disobeying” four grand jury subpoenas and three court orders to turn over evidence to prosecutors in a timely fashion. The ruling came after a closed-door hearing in Oct. 2021, and was kept under seal by the judge until yesterday.
As part of the ruling, the Trump Organization was fined $4,000 — the maximal fine allowed under NY state law. Manhattan prosecutors, frustrated by the Trump Organization’s lack of compliance with subpoenas, had requested a penalty of $60,000/day.
Since the secret hearing and ruling, the Trump Organization has been found to be guilty of multiple counts of criminal tax fraud in a Manhattan court. Sentencing in that case is scheduled for Jan 2023, with the Trump Organization facing a possible $1.6 mil. fine.
This contempt ruling is in addition to a separate ruling of contempt of court made by NY state judge Arthur Engoron in April 2022 as part of the NY state prosecution of the Trump Organization’s business practices. This previous ruling of contempt of court also cited the efforts of the Trump Organization to withhold subpoenaed documents from prosecutors (here: apnews.com/...).
I wanted to report on this because this secret ruling of contempt of court got very little attention in the mainstream media, and because this ruling also shows a pattern of obstruction of justice by the Trump Organization. I have seen speculation in legal circles that Judge Mechan made this ruling public at this time as a sort of response to the recent decision by federal judge Beryl Howell to decline a request by DoJ prosecutors to find Trump himself in contempt of court for (you guessed it) not responding to subpoenas (here: www.cnn.com/...).