Federal judge slaps ex-Overstock CEO with sanctions for 'misconduct' and opens door for Hunter Biden to win defamation
Source: Law & Crime
Sep 30th, 2025, 4:32 pm
Hunter Biden is one step closer to winning a defamation lawsuit by default against Overstock's former CEO after a federal judge slapped Patrick Byrne with monetary sanctions to cover Biden attorneys' travel costs and ordered the plaintiff to file a motion that could end the case.
Biden attorney Bryan Sullivan confirmed to Law&Crime that U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson's sanctions order on Monday amounts to recompense to the plaintiff's legal team for having to show up for trial at the end of July, only to see the California federal proceeding derailed in "three-ring circus" fashion after Byrne suddenly fired his lawyers and failed to convince the judge to grant attorney Stefanie Lambert pro hac vice permission to represent him instead.
In a sanctions motion from late August, Biden's attorneys asked Wilson to put Byrne on the hook for $34,969.20 in hotel, flight, meal, and Uber ride costs that were all for naught given the "bad faith conduct" that led the trial to be pushed back by several months.
In late July, Wilson, a Ronald Reagan appointee going back to 1985, declined to issue a default judgment then and there in Biden's favor, opting instead to reschedule trial for Oct. 14 to give Byrne time to find new counsel.
Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/federal-judge-hits-ex-overstock-ceo-with-sanctions-and-paves-way-for-hunter-biden-to-win-defamation-suit-by-default/
Full headline: Federal judge slaps ex-Overstock CEO with sanctions for 'misconduct' and opens door for Hunter Biden to win defamation lawsuit by default — unless SCOTUS acts