Kari Lake’s team ordered to pay more than $122K in sanctions over Maricopa lawsuit

Kari Lake’s legal team, including lawyer Alan Dershowitz, must pay $122,200 in sanctions after a federal court in Arizona found that the former Republican gubernatorial candidate’s lawsuit contesting voting methods was “frivolous.”

Lake, a former television news anchor, brought a suit against the state of Arizona in April 2022 demanding the election officials use alternative methods to collect and count ballots, claiming that electronic voting machines are not reliable.

The lawsuit was thrown out, and Lake ultimately lost the gubernatorial election to Gov. Katie Hobbs. She then filed another suit after the election alleging widespread fraud. That case was also dismissed, though she continues make baseless claims that the race was stolen from her.

The $122,000 judgment, released Friday, will be paid by Lake’s three lawyers, Andrew Painter, Kurt Olson and Dershowitz. Dershowitz was found to have a limited involvement in the case and was ordered to pay only 10 percent of the order.

“Failing to impose meaningful sanctions here might very well encourage others to follow suit by lending their credibility to documents filed in court without facing any real consequence if their certifications prove hollow or incomplete,” Judge John Tuchi said in his ruling. “The need for general deterrence is therefore significant.”

In May, Lake’s legal team was levied a $2,000 sanction judgment for their role in spreading misinformation about election integrity.