Real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield held in contempt for failing to turn over Trump Org documents

Real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield is being held in contempt of court for failing to comply with subpoenas from New York Attorney General Letitia James in her ongoing probe of the Trump Organization. 

New York Judge Arthur Engoron imposed a $10,000 daily fine beginning Thursday for each day that the firm refuses to comply with the subpoenas. The attorney general is seeking information about the real estate giant's business relationship with the Trump Organization.

"Cushman & Wakefield's work for Donald Trump and the Trump Organization is clearly relevant to our investigation, and we're pleased that the court has recognized that and taken action to force Cushman to comply with our subpoenas," James said. "No person or company, no matter how powerful, is above the law."

A spokesperson for the firm said it will be appealing the decision.

"The ruling to hold Cushman & Wakefield in contempt demonstrates a failure to understand the extreme lengths Cushman has gone to comply with the Court's order," the company said. "We have gone to great expense and effort to quickly identify, collect, review and produce the massive set of documents requested by the OAG, and we have now produced over hundreds of thousands of pages of documents and over 650 appraisals since the last subpoena was issued in February."

For years, Cushman & Wakefield provided real estate services to the Trump Organization, including appraisals and brokerage services for a number of properties that are included in the attorney general's investigation, related to whether organization overstated the value of some properties.

Regarding several properties in particular – Manhattan's 40 Wall Street, the Trump Nation Golf Club in Los Angeles, and the Seven Springs estate in Westchester – the firm has refused to comply with subpoenas for information related to its appraisals.