Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon holds up a duplicate of the Financial Times while talking to members of the media outside US District Court House as his trial for contempt of Congress continues, in Washington, DC, on July 20, 2022.
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A judge ordered former Trump White House aide Steve Bannon to pay a Latest York law firm $480,487 in unpaid legal bills.
And that quantity could grow.
Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arlene Bluth also awarded the law firm Davidoff Hutcher & Citron fees it incurred from having to sue Bannon to gather what it was owed for work performed from November 2020 through November 2022.
Bluth’s six-page decision brushed aside Bannon’s arguments against the bill, which suggested Davidoff Hutcher’s retainer was not entitled to charge for work related to 4 different legal cases, and that he never “personally received” the firms’ bills or paid their invoices himself.
The judge noted that Davidoff Hutcher had been paid $375,000 for work for Bannon before he stopped paying the firm.
“Clearly someone affiliated with defendant was getting these invoices and defendant admits he instructed his team to pay plaintiff,” Bluth wrote.
Bannon “cannot receive the advantage of plaintiff’s legal representation after which insist he needn’t for it,” the judge wrote.
Bannon’s current lawyer, Harlan Protass told CNBC on Monday: “The judge’s decision was clearly improper and we intend to instantly appeal.”
The order comes as Bannon — now represented by a special law firm — faces a May 2024 criminal trial in the identical court for allegedly defrauding donors to a purported effort to construct a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. He has pleaded not guilty within the case.
Former President Donald Trump pardoned Bannon just before leaving office in January 2021 in reference to a then-pending federal criminal prosecution for a similar alleged “We Construct the Wall” scam, by which three co-defendants all later pleaded guilty or were convicted.
Bannon is also appealing a Washington, D.C., federal court conviction and related four-month jail sentence for contempt of Congress for refusing to testify to the special House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, after it issued him a subpoena.
Bannon’s former lawyer, Davidoff Hutcher partner Robert Costello, told CNBC that if Bannon “appeals, in fact, the meter is running” on the unpaid fees he owes the firm.
Steve Bannon appeared before a federal judge in connection together with his indictment for contempt of Congress for failing to reply to a subpoena from the House Judiciary Committee on January 6. Also pictured are Bannon’s attorney David Schoen (2nd L) and attorney Robert J. Costello (L).
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Bluth tacked on a rate of 1% interest prejudgment on the legal fees she awarded Davidoff Hutcher on Friday.
But Costello said that may spike to 9% annually once his firm files post-judgment court documents, with the potential for Bannon to owe Davidoff Hutcher much more in legal fees if he loses on appeal.
“It is a lose-lose proposition for him,” said Costello. “But he has to make his own business decisions.”
Costello, who represented Bannon within the “We Construct the Wall” and Jan. 6 cases, described Bannon as effectively ghosting him nine months or so ago.
“Mr. Bannon, unfortunately, just stopped paying our bills,” Costello said. “And I communicated with him always about it, and he decided just not to reply.”
Asked if Bannon did not answer Costello in any respect when the lawyer contacted him in regards to the unpaid bills, Costello said, “Correct. Silence, crickets.”
“I do not know what his personal problems or issues” were, Costello said when asked why he believed Bannon didn’t respond or pay his debt. “Truthfully, I do not know. I am unable to read minds.”
“It’s unlucky,” Costello said, referring to the lawsuit to recoup the legal fees. “I didn’t need to sue the guy. Personally, I just like the guy.”
Bannon alleged in his response to the lawsuit that he told Costello and his firm to stop working for him in January 2022, and that Costello performed work for him that was unrelated to the retainer agreement that was the topic of the suit.
“In reply, [Costello’s firm] argues that defendant is attempting to fabricate a difficulty of fact where none exists and that documentary evidence shows that defendant was actively accepting plaintiff’s legal representation well after January 2022,” Bluth noted.
Costello appeared with Bannon in federal court in Washington on June 15, 2022, for Bannon’s arraignment within the contempt of Congress case. That was greater than 4 months after Bannon later claimed he had instructed the lawyer to stop work on his behalf.
