A New York judge has lifted the civil contempt finding against former President – if he pays $110,000 in fines.
Judge Arthur Engoron on Wednesday said that paying the fine and other conditions must be met by May 20, according to .
‘I want the fine paid. That fine is now $110,000,’ Engoron told Trump’s attorney.
Engoron agreed to have Trump put the fine amount in an escrow account until his appeal of the contempt finding is finalized. He was expected to issue a written decision later on Wednesday.
The judge’s other conditions include reviewing the last five of 17 boxes linked to Trump in an off-site storage facility, and turning in a description of the Trump Organization’s document retention and destruction policy.
Failure to comply would result in reinstating the contempt charge, the judge said.
Engoron issued the contempt finding on April 25, imposing a $10,000 daily fine on Trump for each day that he refused to comply with a subpoena for financial records for state Attorney General Letitia James’ probe. James is investigating whether the Trump Organization misstated its property values for tax deductions and favorable loans.
James said she has ‘significant evidence’ indicating that more than a decade of the Trump Organization’s financial statements ‘relied on misleading asset valuations and other misrepresentations to secure economic benefits’.
The judge slapped on the hefty daily fine after Trump failed to comply with the subpoena at the March 31 deadline. On May 3, Engoron denied a motion to stop the fines, stating that Trump’s team failed to show that they made a sufficient effort to search for the requested records.
Engoron stopped the daily fine last Friday, when Trump’s lawyers provided sworn statements of his effort to comply with the subpoena for the documents.
Trump has repeatedly slammed James’ investigation as a ‘witch hunt’ driven by her political bias.
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