[Source: Reuters]

A U.S. judge on Monday found that President Donald Trump improperly used a $10 billion lawsuit he ​filed against the IRS to extract personal benefits from the government he oversees, preventing the terms of a settlement agreement from taking legal effect.

Miami-based ‌U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams excoriated Trump’s personal lawyers and attorneys in his administration, concluding their interests were not opposed to each other as is legally required for civil lawsuits. Williams referred a Trump lawyer in the case, Alejandro

Brito, and senior Justice Department officials who signed off on the settlement to state bar authorities to determine if their actions violated legal ethics rules.

In a 56-page ruling, Williams concluded ​that attorneys on both sides of the case – Trump’s personal lawyers and lawyers for the DOJ and IRS – misused the legal system to provide cover for ​actions aimed at benefiting Trump and his allies.

“This action was never about a party seeking judicial resolution of a legal issue or ⁠a factual dispute,” Williams wrote. The judge said it was instead an attempt to “provide some legitimacy to an agreement to confer immunity to people and entities affiliated with the ​president and to earmark billions of dollars from American taxpayers to redress grievances not defined in the law.”

The settlement brokered in May between Trump’s personal lawyers and senior officials at the Justice ​Department, led Trump to drop the suit in exchange for sweeping tax protections and the creation of a nearly $1.8 billion fund for victims of so-called government weaponization that critics said would benefit Trump’s political allies.

Williams’ order bars any of the parties in the case, including Trump, his adult sons and his namesake company, from referring to the settlement or citing any of its terms in future legal proceedings, a move ​that could nullify the portion of the agreement barring the IRS from pursuing audits into past tax claims involving Trump or his businesses.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche already told ​Congress that the plan for the weaponization fund would not move forward.

The fund was initially aimed at compensating victims of “lawfare” and “weaponization,” terms that Trump has long used to describe legal cases against him ‌and his ⁠allies.

A federal judge in Virginia last month blocked the Trump administration from setting up the fund.