By Karen Freifeld and Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Former U.S. President Donald Trump must pay a $110,000 fine to the New York state attorney and meet other conditions to purge a contempt of court order for his failure to comply with a subpoena in a civil probe into his business practices, a judge said on Wednesday.
The judge, Arthur Engoron, told a virtual hearing that a $10,000-per-day fine he imposed on Trump in late April stopped accruing on Friday, when Trump and his lawyers filed new affidavits detailing steps they took to find documents relevant to Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation.
Trump has said he does not have any relevant files, a claim Engoron said last month he found surprising.
The judge gave Trump until May 20 to comply with additional conditions, which include submitting affidavits from his personal assistant and others familiar with his record-keeping practices, and the completion of a report by a third-party firm hired to search the Trump Organization’s records.
The contempt order could be restored if those conditions are not met, Engoron said.
James has said her probe has turned up evidence that the Trump Organization – which manages hotels, golf courses and other real estate around the world – has given banks and tax authorities misleading financing information in order to obtain financial benefits such as favorable loans and tax breaks.
A Republican, Trump denies wrongdoing and calls the investigation politically motivated. James is a Democrat.
(Reporting by Karen Freifeld and Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Mark Porter and Will Dunham)
