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Arizona Supreme Court denies Cyber Ninjas request to throw out $50K daily fine
The Arizona Supreme Court has denied Cyber Ninjas' request to throw out a $50,000 a day fine for not releasing election audit records.
PHOENIX - The Arizona Supreme Court is declining to consider a request by Cyber Ninjas Inc. to throw out a $50,000 per day fine for failing to release public records about the state Senate’s 2020 election review.
Justice Ann Scott Timmer wrote in an order dated March 10 that the request should be filed with the Court of Appeals.
The rejection is another failure in Cyber Ninjas repeated attempts to get the Supreme Court to weigh in on lower court rulings that found the company is subject to the state public records law. In the latest petition, Cyber Ninjas repeats arguments it made in November — which the court declined to consider — and made a new argument that the $50,000 fine was improper.
The company argued the fine is punitive and based in part on information the judge read in the news, not facts presented in court.
Doug Logan, the CEO of Cyber Ninjas, has said he lost money on the audit, the company is insolvent, and he has no money to cover the cost of determining which company records pertain to the audit.
That daily fine started accumulating in January and has grown to more than $3 million.
Cyber Ninjas was the chief contractor hired to lead the Senate’s unprecedented review of election materials from Maricopa County, including ballots and counting machines. The company is fighting public records requests lawsuits filed by the parent company of The Arizona Republic newspaper and American Oversight, a left-leaning watchdog group.
The Cyber Ninjas petition this week also revealed for the first time that Maricopa County’s top civil lawyer, Tom Liddy, filed an extensive public records request in November. It asks Cyber Ninjas to turn over records that include communications with former President Donald Trump and his representatives, legislators, members of Congress and conservative media personalities. It also asks for any documents the Cyber Ninjas team used in reaching its conclusion that showed a net increase of votes for President Joe Biden.
Cyber Ninjas never responded to the records request, said Fields Moseley, a spokesman for the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.
"We believe the records will help us understand their research methods that led Cyber Ninjas to arrive at so many misleading and false conclusions," Moseley said.
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Lawyer says Cyber Ninjas, company that led controversial Arizona election audit, is now defunct
A judge has imposed a daily $50,000 fine on the company over records from the controversial audit, and the judge warned that if necessary, the fine will be applied to individuals. FOX 10's Nicole Garcia reports.
Continuing coverage
- Arizona high court to decide if Senate 2020 election audit records kept secret
- No charges for 151 Arizona votes vetted over 2020 election fraud claims
- Cyber Ninjas chief wants to start new firm with same workers
- Maricopa Co. releases new report on 2020 election, deems many claims misleading; here's what you need to know
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