The state attorney general provided a judge with a new legal precedent related to the case of former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli.
Wielding a newfound legal precedent that could bolster her case against former President Donald Trump, New York Attorney General Letitia James on Tuesday renewed her call for the former president to be banned for life from doing business in New York.
In a letter to New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, who is presiding over President Trump’s civil fraud trial and is expected to issue a ruling by the end of January, Ms. James’ assistant, Colleen Faherty, provided a “notice of supplemental authority” meant to encourage the judge to ban President Trump from ever doing business in New York.
A notice of supplemental authority is a document filed by a party in a legal case—in this instance provided by Ms. James’ office in context of the case against President Trump—to draw the court’s attention to new legal authorities that have arisen that may impact the case.
“In its appellate review, the Second Circuit unanimously affirmed in full the district court’s order enjoining Martin Shkreli from participation in the pharmaceutical industry for life and ordering him to disgorge $64.6 million,” Ms. Faherty wrote in the letter, referring to a verdict in an unrelated case against Mr. Shkreli, which stems from an antitrust lawsuit over his efforts to thwart competition when he hiked the price of a drug overnight by over 4,000 percent some years ago.
Ms. Faherty wrote that the court’s decision to impose a lifetime ban on Mr. Shkreli should serve as “case law support” for the punishment Ms. James wants Justice Engoron to apply to the former president.
Ms. James, a Democrat, has requested a broad range of penalties against President Trump, including a $370 million disgorgement and a permanent ban on his doing business in New York state and with any New York-based financial institution.
President Trump has called the case a “political witch hunt.”
With her assistant’s letter to Justice Engoron, Ms. James is now arguing that the decision in the Shkreli case supports her call to impose the Trump business ban.
By Tom Ozimek
