Judge rules Trump IRS lawsuit filed for improper purpose, refers attorney for discipline
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A federal judge found that former President Donald Trump's lawsuit against the IRS was filed for an improper purpose and referred one of his lawyers for possible disciplinary action.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams ruled that the lawsuit filed by former President Donald Trump against the Internal Revenue Service over leaked tax returns was pursued for an “improper purpose.” The judge said the case was used to seek a settlement that would grant Trump and his allies immunity from tax audits and create a fund to compensate them, without a legitimate adverse interest required in civil litigation.
Williams, an appointee of President Barack Obama, wrote that the parties could not claim to be adverse and that the agreement was not the result of a legitimate legal process. She noted that the settlement, announced in May, included a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” which was later abandoned after bipartisan criticism.
The ruling, issued ahead of Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, also referred Trump attorney Alejandro Brito to the Florida State Bar for possible disciplinary action and barred another lawyer, Daniel Epstein, from filing in the Southern District of Florida for up to a year.
Williams sent copies of her decision to the state bars in New York and the District of Columbia, where ethics complaints have been filed against Blanche and Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward for their roles in the settlement. She highlighted concerns that Blanche, who previously represented Trump, and Woodward, who defended Jan. 6 defendants, participated in a settlement that could benefit former clients.
A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team declined to comment on Brito’s referral, attributing the tax-return leak to the IRS.