(WASHINGTON) — A lawyer representing Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne in a defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems was arrested after a status hearing in Washington, D.C., where she acknowledged in court disseminating confidential documents from the voting machine company to law enforcement.
A judge in Michigan, where Stefanie Lambert is also facing criminal charges for allegedly tampering with voting machines, had issued an arrest warrant for the attorney. She is being charged with being a fugitive from justice for failing to show up for a hearing on March 7, police in Michigan said, but declined to elaborate further. The U.S. Marshals confirmed Lambert’s arrest.
According to Detroit News, her lawyer, Dan Hartman, had tried to get the warrant withdrawn claiming that her absence was due to communication issues with her former attorney.
Lambert was the focus of a status hearing Monday in the civil case after lawyers for Dominion requested to disqualify Lambert for allegedly violating a protective order.
The hearing is part of a lawsuit filed by Dominion against former President Donald Trump’s allies including Byrne, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Lindell, Sidney Powell and right-wing network OAN over allegations that they pushed false conspiracy theories that the voting machine company had helped to rig the 2020 presidential election in favor of Joe Biden. The defendants have denied any wrongdoing.
Lambert and her attorney did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comment Tuesday.
During the hearing, Lambert said she gave the confidential documents to law enforcement “over a concern for fraud” and “criminal activity.”
“It’s very important that Congress and law enforcement investigate,” Lambert said.
“I believe Dominion has instituted fraud with this defamation suit,” she added. “There are ongoing elections … primaries … local elections.”
During the hearing, lawyers for Dominion said Lambert and her client, Byrne, used the documents from the lawsuit “to spread lies and cause harm.”
According to one of the lawyers for Dominion, one of the law enforcement officials that received the documents — some of which were classified — posted some of the confidential Dominion emails on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday.
“They took actions intentionally and they have no intention of stopping,” said an attorney for Dominion.
Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya admonished Lambert for not seeking to challenge the documents’ designation before sharing the discovery with law enforcement.
“You then gave … a tranche of documents that were clearly marked confidential to a third party,” said Judge Upadhyaya.
Upadhyaya ruled the documents be filed under seal and ordered that access to the repository, where documents are stored online, be blocked from Lambert temporarily.
Byrne was also ordered to appear at the next hearing.
Last year, Fox News agreed to pay $787.5 million to settle a defamation suit brought by Dominion alleging the network broadcast the false claims of election fraud. Fox News denied the claims and said the reporting was “newsworthy.”
Dominion’s $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against conservative network Newsmax on similar claims is scheduled to go to trial in late September 2024. Newsmax has said it “reported both sides” and previously retracted some it’s reporting surrounding the 2020 election as part of a settlement after it was sued by a Dominion employee in a separate suit.
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