Judge holds Cushman & Wakefield in contempt in New York Trump probe

A New York judge has held real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield in contempt of court for failing to respond to document requests in connection with an investigation into the financial practices of Donald Trump and the Trump Organization.

Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Cushman to be fined $10,000 per day, beginning on Thursday, until it complies. The judge also expressed incredulity that the firm had waited until two days after a deadline to petition for an extension.

“Cushman & Wakefield has only itself to blame if it chose to treat the looming deadline cavalierly,” he wrote.

The document requests were made by Letitia James, the New York attorney-general. They concern assessments conducted by Cushman on several Trump properties, including 40 Wall Street, the Trump National Golf Club in Los Angeles and the Seven Springs development in Westchester.

In a court filing earlier this year, the attorney-general alleged Trump had repeatedly overstated the value of these and other properties in order to secure access to loans and other financial benefits — something Trump has denied.

Among other materials, James is seeking internal Cushman communications about its decision to sever ties with Trump following the January 6 storming of the US Capitol, as well as comparable assessments it conducted for other clients.

Cushman handed over some materials in March. Yet it then tried — and failed — to fight the subpoena, arguing that the attorney-general’s requests were excessively broad and would compromise the privacy of other clients.

In a statement, Cushman said the contempt order demonstrated “a failure to understand the extreme lengths Cushman has gone to comply with the court’s order”, and that it would appeal. The firm has handed over “hundreds of thousands” of pages of documents, it added, as well as details of more than 650 appraisals.

Judge Engoron earlier this year held the former president in contempt for failing to provide information to James — although that order was lifted a week ago.

In the Cushman order, the judge acknowledged that the requests were broad, but noted that they were still legally allowed.