U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media on the South Lawn of the White House September 26, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Aaron Schwartz | Getty Images
A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected an attempt to stay sanctions on two of President Donald Trump’s lawyers for their handling of his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.
The three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the lawyers, Alejandro Brito and Daniel Epstein, failed to show they were likely to succeed in arguing that Judge Kathleen Williams of the U.S. District Court in Miami did not have sufficient basis when she concluded that the lawyers acted in bad faith in the civil suit.
The committee also said the appeal was premature. The panel noted that Williams had not made a final decision on whether to grant a group of former judges’ request to reopen the case — which was controversially settled out of court in May — nor did it rule on the issue of attorney fees.
Brito and Epstein were sanctioned after Williams found that the parties in the lawsuit were not adversarial against each other, since Trump controlled the IRS because of his status as head of the executive branch of government.
In July, Williams referred Brito to the Florida Bar to determine whether he should be disciplined in light of his scathing findings after the case was settled.
Williams also ordered that all future requests for Epstein to be admitted pro hac vice in the Southern District of Florida be denied for one year. Lawyers not admitted to practice in a certain federal judicial district may appear there if they are admitted by means of a “pro hac vice” application.
The decision of the appeal commission denying any delay in the application of sanctions was unanimous.
One of the panel’s judges, Kevin Newsom, was appointed by Trump. The other two justices, Robin Rosenbaum and Adalberto Jordan, were appointed by President Barack Obama.
Trump sued the IRS over the leak of his tax records by an agency contractor. The settlement briefly led the Justice Department to create a $1.8 billion “legal” fund that was quickly abandoned after outrage over the idea that it could be used to compensate defendants in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot cases who assaulted police officers and other defendants.
The settlement also protected Trump, his family members, the Trump Organization and associated trusts and affiliates from potential IRS enforcement actions related to federal tax returns filed.
Williams ruled that the plaintiffs, who included Trump’s eldest sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, had “acted in bad faith and for an improper purpose” in filing the lawsuit “solely to cover up a collusive settlement.”
In addition to sanctioning Brito and Epstein, Williams also ordered that a copy of his order be sent to the New York State Bar Association, of which Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is a member. Blanche, who is Trump’s former criminal defense attorney, announced the creation of the now-defunct DOJ compensation fund after the lawsuit was settled.
A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team, in a statement regarding Tuesday’s decision by the appeals panel, said: “The IRS wrongly allowed a rogue, politically motivated employee to disclose private and confidential information about President Trump, his family and the Trump Organization to the New York Times, ProPublica and other left-wing media outlets, which was then illegally disclosed to millions of people.” »
“President Trump continues to hold accountable those who harm America and Americans,” the spokesperson said.
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