The court inquiry stemmed from complaints filed last October, after an investigation by The New York Times found that the Trumps had engaged in dubious tax schemes during the 1990s, including instances of outright fraud, that greatly increased the inherited wealth of Trump and his siblings. Barry not only benefited financially from most of those tax schemes, The Times found; she was also in a position to influence the actions taken by her family.
Barry, now 82, has not heard cases in more than two years but was still listed as an inactive senior judge, one step short of full retirement. In a letter dated Feb. 1, a court official notified the four individuals who had filed the complaints that the investigation was “receiving the full attention” of a judicial conduct council. Ten days later, Barry filed her retirement papers.
The status change rendered the investigation moot, since retired judges are not subject to the conduct rules. The people who filed the complaints were notified last week that the matter had been dropped without a finding on the merits of the allegations. The decision has not yet been made public, but copies were provided to The Times by two of the complainants.
Judicial council reviews can result in the cenure or reprimand of federal judges, and in extremely rare cases, a referral to the House of Representatives for impeachment.
Barry did not respond to emails or telephone messages.
The Times’ investigation focused on how the profits and ownership of the real estate empire built by the president’s father, Fred Trump, were transferred to Donald Trump and his siblings, often in ways designed to dodge gift and estate taxes. A lawyer for the president, Charles J. Harder, said last fall, “The New York Times’ allegations of fraud and tax evasion are 100 percent false, and highly defamatory.”
Barry was nominated to the U.S. District Court in New Jersey by President Ronald Reagan in 1983, after several years as a federal prosecutor. She was elevated to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by President Bill Clinton in 1999.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.