A federal judge this week imposed more than $90,000 in attorney fees and sanctions on a conservative podcaster whose unsubstantiated claims of election-rigging prompted a series of defamation lawsuits against him and those who broadcast the allegations.

In a pair of orders on Monday and Tuesday, U.S. District Court Senior Judge William J. Martínez directed Oltmann to pay $37,000 for fleeing the courthouse in the middle of a deposition last year, and an additional $53,757 to plaintiff Eric Coomer for the cost of litigating Oltmann’s non-compliance with court orders.

“Oltmann’s recalcitrance and utter contempt for the judicial system is well-documented in this and other forums,” Martínez wrote in a July 28 order.

Coomer, the former director of product security and strategy for voting technology supplier Dominion Voting Systems, initiated several lawsuits based on a similar sequence of events: Days after the 2020 election, Oltmann claimed he had recently listened in on an “antifa” conference call — a reference to anti-fascist ideology. On the alleged call, an unnamed participant referenced “Eric … the Dominion guy.”

Oltmann claimed that “Eric” said, “Don’t worry about the election, (Donald) Trump is not gonna win. I made f-ing sure of that.”

Based upon information he found online, Oltmann concluded Coomer was the one who allegedly made the comments of election rigging. Oltmann repeated his story publicly, even after the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency found “no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”

Coomer filed numerous lawsuits against Oltmann, media figures, Trump’s 2020 campaign and Trump’s lawyers, who amplified Oltmann’s accusations. One set of defendants included Oklahoma podcaster Clayton Thomas “Clay” Clark and his “Thrivetime Show.” They gave Oltmann a platform to promote his story of the antifa conference call.

As part of the proceedings, U.S. Magistrate Judge Kathryn A. Starnella ordered Oltmann to sit for a deposition and provide documents. Oltmann, however, walked out of the courthouse mid-deposition. Shortly afterward, he began recording a podcast, where he called Starnella, who is Hispanic, a “radical left DEI,” which is the abbreviation for “diversity, equity and inclusion.”

In response, Starnella recommended Oltmann be ordered to pay financial penalties for his contempt. Last September, Martínez agreed Oltmann had repeatedly ignored court orders across cases and subsequently “boasted about it.” Martínez did not believe Starnella’s suggested $300 fine would get Oltmann’s “full and complete attention,” so he imposed a $1,000 fine per day until Oltmann complied with Starnella’s orders.

While Oltmann’s appeal of the sanction was pending, he testified under subpoena in Coomer’s jury trial against another defendant, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. On the witness stand, Oltmann admitted in federal court that he misled a judge about his inability to sit for questioning, claimed he only “briefly” saw one person’s face on the alleged 19-person antifa video call, and accused unnamed individuals of having “wiped” relevant information from the Internet.

Jurors sided with Coomer.

Shortly afterward, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit upheld Martínez’s sanctions order. The three-judge panel also found Oltmann’s lawyer, Republican National Committee representative Randy Corporon, “crossed this line” into misconduct by making at least one frivolous argument on appeal. It gave the green light to Martínez to award Coomer his expenses in litigating the appeal.

When the 10th Circuit’s decision became final on July 10, several developments occurred in quick succession:

• Martínez issued an order one day later lifting the pause he had placed on Oltmann’s $1,000-per-day fine, noting the parties indicated they were settling the case but had not yet asked him to vacate the jury trial

• The parties formally asked Martínez on July 16 to vacate the trial because they reached a settlement

• On July 25, Martínez held a hearing to evaluate Coomer’s request for attorney fees and costs associated with litigating Oltmann’s contempt in the trial court and to the 10th Circuit

• Martínez awarded costs and fees on July 28, finding the majority of Coomer’s request was reasonable “as a result of Oltmann’s antics”

• One day later, Martínez ordered Oltmann to pay $37,000 in sanctions — reflecting $30,000 that accrued between Martínez’s original order and when Oltmann appealed, plus the window between the 10th Circuit’s decision becoming final and the official notice of settlement

In his July 28 order, Martínez noted Oltmann allegedly did not know of Coomer’s request for attorney fees until “just a few days” before the hearing.

“This strains credulity,” Martínez wrote. “The Tenth Circuit awarded Coomer his appellate fees and costs many weeks ago. Oltmann surely knew of these circumstances around that time.”

The case is Coomer v. Make Your Life Epic, LLC. et al.