A sealed grand jury case, believed to be linked to the Mueller investigation, has thrown a wrench in one company's fight. An unknown foreign company attempted to fight a subpoena. A lower court ruled the subpoena was valid and an Appellate Court on Tuesday upheld that decision.
Here's why this case is believed to be linked to the Russia probe (from Talking Points Memo):
It has not been officially confirmed that the subpoena was related to Mueller’s investigation. However there have been sightings and comments overheard at the courthouse that suggest it’s Mueller related, and at an early stage in a proceeding, an appellate judge who previously worked in President Trump’s White House recused himself.
When the appellate court heard the case on Friday, court staff kicked reporters off the floor of the courtroom so they couldn’t stakeout lawyers entering and exiting the hearing. However, two Mueller attorneys were spotted arriving at his office about 10 minutes after the hearing was believed to have wrapped up.
The decision doesn’t reveal much about the legal dispute, nor does it confirm that it was a Mueller issued subpoena that was being challenged.
The only thing we know for sure is that this is a foreign company who thought they were exempt under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. There's a section of the Act that has an immunity clause for "criminal jurisdiction," which this case seems to fall under.
We also know that the company will be monetarily punished for every day they refuse to cooperate with the judgement. They will be charged $5,000 per week that they're held in contempt.
Here's the full judgement:
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