U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams on Monday nullified the Justice Department’s settlement with Donald Trump and his sons that would have created a $1.8 billion fund and granted tax-audit immunity, ruling the underlying $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS was brought "for an improper purpose." In a 56-page opinion in the southern district of Florida, Williams said there was never a genuine controversy because Trump controlled the Treasury Department and found the settlement collusive, sanctioning the president’s lawyers and referring at least one attorney for possible disciplinary action. Williams noted concrete signs of bad faith, including that Trump lawyer Daniel Epstein never sought permission to appear in the Florida case and the Justice Department offered no answers about emoluments or laws limiting presidential control over audits. The ruling bars Trump, his sons, their businesses, and the government from using or citing the settlement in any proceeding and follows bipartisan backlash that prompted acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to cancel the fund while leaving the tax-immunity language intact earlier this year. The judge reopened the case after a group of retired federal judges urged review and ordered that the settlement may not be used to confer legitimacy on benefits that lacked legal foundation.
