Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon holds a copy of the Financial Times as he talks to members of the media outside U.S. District Court on July 20, 2022, in Washington, D.C., as he continues his contempt trial. The Times.
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Judge orders ex-Trump White House aide Steve Bannon to pay $480,487 in outstanding payments to New York law firm legal bill.
And that amount is likely to increase.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arlene Bluth also awarded the firm Davidoff Hatcher & Citron LLP It incurred costs for having to sue Bannon to collect fees it was owed for work performed between November 2020 and November 2022.
Bruce’s six-page decision dismissed Bannon’s arguments against the bill, which suggested Davidoff Hatcher’s hires were not entitled to fees for work related to four different legal cases, and that he never “personally received” the company’s bills or pay their invoices in person.
The judge noted that Davidoff Hutcher was paid $375,000 to work for Bannon before he stopped paying the company.
“Apparently, these invoices were received by persons connected to defendant, who admitted that he directed his team to pay plaintiff,” Bruce wrote.
The judge wrote that Bannon “could not first obtain the benefit of plaintiff’s legal representation and then insist that he did not need to.”
“The judge’s decision is clearly wrong, and we intend to appeal immediately,” Harlan Protas, Bannon’s current attorney, told CNBC on Monday.
The order comes as Bannon — now represented by another law firm — faces criminal trial in the same court in May 2024 on charges of allegedly defrauding donors to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. He has pleaded not guilty in the case.
Bannon was pardoned by former President Donald Trump before leaving office in January 2021 amid a then-pending federal criminal prosecution involving the same so-called “We Build the Wall” scam in which three co-defendants later Both pleaded guilty or were convicted.
Bannon is also appealing a four-month prison sentence for contempt of Congress in federal court in Washington, D.C., for refusing to testify after a subpoena to the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. .
Bannon’s former attorney, Davidoff Hatcher partner Robert Costello, told CNBC that if Bannon “appeals, of course, the outstanding fees he owes the firm will start to tick.”
Steve Bannon appeared before a federal judge on Jan. 6, charged with contempt of Congress for failing to respond to a House Judiciary Committee subpoena. Also pictured are Bannon’s attorney, David Schoen (second from left) and attorney Robert J. Costello (second from left). L).
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Bruce attached a 1% interest rate prejudgment to the legal fees paid to Davidoff Hatcher on Friday.
But Costello said that would soar to 9% a year once his firm files post-judgment court papers, and that Bannon could owe Davidoff Hatcher even more attorney fees if he loses the appeal.
“It’s a lose-lose proposition for him,” Costello said. “But he has to make his own business decisions.”
Costello, who represented Bannon in the “We Build the Wall” and Jan. 6 cases, said Bannon had effectively been Bannon’s ghost for about nine months.
“Unfortunately, Mr. Bannon just stopped paying our bills,” Costello said. “I kept communicating with him about it, but he decided not to respond.”
Asked whether Bannon didn’t answer at all when lawyers contacted Costello about the unpaid bills, Costello said: “Correct. Silence, cricket.”
Asked why he thought Bannon hadn’t responded or paid his debts, Costello said, “I don’t know what his personal issues or problems” were. “Honestly, I don’t know. I can’t read minds.”
“It’s unfortunate,” Costello said of the lawsuit to recover legal costs. “I don’t want to sue this guy. Personally, I like this guy.”
Bannon claimed in his response to the lawsuit that he told Costello and his firm to stop working for him in January 2022 and that the work Costello did for him was not related to the employment agreement that is the subject of the lawsuit.
“In response, (Costello’s firm) argued that defendants sought to create a factual issue that did not exist, and that documentary evidence indicated that defendants actively accepted plaintiffs’ legal representation long after January 2022,” Bruce noted.
On June 15, 2022, Costello appeared in court with Bannon to accept Bannon’s contempt of Congress arraignment. It has been more than four months since Bannon later claimed he had instructed his lawyers to stop working on his behalf.