NEW YORK, May 20 (Reuters) – Former U.S. President Donald Trump has paid a $110,000 fine for his failure to respond to a subpoena in a civil investigation into his business practices, a spokesperson for the New York attorney general said on Friday.
The payment of the fine was one of three steps Trump needed to take for a judge to lift a contempt of court order issued last month for his lack of cooperation with Letitia James’ probe into whether the Trump Organization gave banks and tax authorities misleading financial information.
The judge, Arthur Engoron, held Trump in contempt and fined him $10,000 per day starting last month after finding it was not clear Trump had conducted a complete search for additional documents James had requested.
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Engoron conditionally lifted the contempt order and the fine stopped accruing last week after Trump submitted details of his search for records. But Engoron said he would start fining Trump again if he did not pay by May 20.
He also required that a third-party firm complete its review of the Trump Organization’s records for relevant documents, and that Trump employees must submit affidavits on his practices for handling records, by that date. As of Friday afternoon, the former condition had been met but the latter had not, the spokesperson said.
Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
James has said her probe has found evidence that the company – which manages hotels, golf courses and other real estate throughout the world – misstated asset valuations to get benefits such as favorable loans and tax breaks.
A Republican, Trump denies wrongdoing and has called the investigation politically motivated. James is a Democrat.
The fine money will be held in escrow until a higher court weighs in on Trump’s appeal of the contempt order.
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Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Luc Cohen in New York;
Editing by Noeleen Walder and Nick Macfie
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
