‘WILLFULLY DISOBEYING’

Trump Org Lost Secret Criminal Contempt Trial Last Year: NYT

The Trump family business was fined $4,000 after a judge found it had failed to respond to a number of grand jury subpoenas and court orders.

The Trump Organization was fined $4,000 last year after being held in criminal contempt following the loss of a secret one-day trial over its refusal to obey court orders in a New York tax fraud case against the company, The New York Times reported Tuesday. The reprimand and fine were issued by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan after the clandestine Oct. 2021 trial, a newly unsealed court document from two months later reflected. The trial was held after the prosecutors accused the Trump family business of “willfully disobeying” three court orders and four grand jury subpoenas in March, April, May and June 2021, the order stated. “The record is clear that the company failed to produce responsive documents without explanation,” Merchan wrote. The order’s identifying details, partially redacted, were confirmed to the Times by several sources close to the matter. A jury found the Trump Organization guilty on all nine counts of tax fraud and related crimes in a separate trial earlier this month.