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Justice Arthur Engoron of a New York state court in Manhattan
had on Tuesday found Cushman, one of the world's largest real
estate companies, in contempt and imposed a $10,000-a-day fine
starting on July 7.
He chastised Cushman for waiting until after its latest deadline
to seek more time to comply with New York Attorney General
Letitia James' subpoenas, saying it "has only itself to blame if
it chose to treat the looming deadlines cavalierly."
Engoron acknowledged that James sought an "enormous" number of
documents from Cushman, but said state law allowed subpoenas of
that breadth.
In a court filing, Cushman asked a state appeals court in
Manhattan to reverse Engoron's contempt finding and allow more
time to comply with the subpoenas.
Cushman has said it produced several hundred thousand pages of
documents and more than 650 appraisals since February, and
rejected any suggestion it has not acted in good faith.
A spokeswoman for James did not immediately respond to requests
for comment.
James, a Democrat, is investigating whether Trump and his family
business, the Trump Organization, inflated the values of golf
clubs, hotels and other real estate to obtain favorable loans
and reduced the values to save on taxes.
Her office's ability to gather documents is important as it
prepares to question Trump and two of his adult children, Donald
Trump Jr and Ivanka Trump, under oath beginning on July 15.
Trump, a Republican, has called James' probe a politically
motivated "witch hunt."
He paid $110,000 in fines after Engoron held him in contempt on
April 25. The judge lifted that contempt order last week.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Matthew
Lewis)
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