Judge Orders Trump to Surrender Financial Records in BBC Suit

U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett ruled Tuesday that Donald Trump must surrender extensive financial records from his corporate empire, including over 400 companies held in the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust. The ruling is part of a $10 billion defamation lawsuit Trump filed against the British Broadcasting Corporation over a 2024 documentary and a Panorama episode that used edited footage of his January 6, 2021, speech to suggest he called for violence.

While the British Broadcasting Corporation apologized for the edit, it intends to use the financial records to argue that Trump's wealth actually increased after the documentary aired. Judge Lett also granted the British Broadcasting Corporation permission to subpoena Trump's inner circle, including Donald Trump Jr., Steve Bannon, and Stephen Miller, to investigate Trump's intentions during the Capitol riot.

Trump's attorney, Alejandro Brito, argued the requests were oppressive and attempted to narrow the case to personal reputational damage rather than business loss to avoid the disclosures. Judge Lett rejected this limitation, noting that Trump's own claims of business injury made the vitality of his companies a fair subject for discovery. The British Broadcasting Corporation has produced 87,000 pages of documents, while its lawyers described Trump's submission of 735 pages as a sham production. Trump may appeal the decision to U.S. District Judge Roy Altman; a trial is tentatively scheduled for February 2027.