Who is US District Judge Roy Altman? Federal judge pauses Trump order in $10 billion BBC lawsuit
US District Judge Roy K. Altman is in focus after he temporarily halted an order that would have required President Donald Trump to hand over detailed financial records in his $10 billion libel lawsuit against the BBC on Thursday. This pause gives the court time to consider Trump’s request to narrow parts of his complaints in the lawsuit.
This move, if the request is granted, could reduce the scope of financial information sought by the BBC.
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Who is Judge Roy Altman?
Roy K. Altman serves as a judge on the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida. He was confirmed to the federal bench in 2019 at the age of 36, which made him the youngest federal district court judge in the United States at the time and the youngest ever appointed to South Florida’s federal court.
Altman earned his Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University. According to the Institute of Global Politics biography, he played quarterback on the football team and pitched for the baseball team, earning All-Ivy honours.
He later graduated from Yale Law School, where he served as projects editor of the Yale Law Journal. After he completed law school, Altman clerked for Judge Stanley Marcus on the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Altman worked as a federal prosecutor in the US Attorney’s Office in Miami before he became a judge. During his tenure as a prosecutor, he received the Director of the Executive Office of US Attorneys’ Award for Superior Performance twice.
In 2013, he was named Federal Prosecutor of the Year by the Miami-Dade Chiefs of Police and the Law Enforcement Officers’ Charitable Foundation. He later joined the Miami law firm Podhurst Orseck as a partner and represented victims of airplane crashes and bank fraud conspiracies before Trump appointed him as a judge.
According to The Jerusalem Post, traveled to Israel in March 2025 with other federal judges from all over the United States to gain a legal and judicial understanding of the events of October 7 and Israel’s activities during the conflict.
He was also recognised in May by JNF-USA’s Lawyers of Israel for his “dedication to fighting antisemitism and anti-Zionism in South Florida and beyond.”
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Altman’s role in Trump vs BBC lawsuit
Altman is overseeing Trump’s defamation lawsuit against the BBC over the 2024 documentary Trump: A Second Chance.
The lawsuit centres on an edited sequence of Trump’s January 6, 2021, speech that, according to the complaint, falsely suggested he directly encouraged supporters to storm the US Capitol. The BBC apologised for the edit but has denied that the documentary was defamatory.
Last month, a Miami-based federal judge ordered Trump to begin producing extensive financial records by August 6. Those records included information about hundreds of businesses owned through the Trump family trust.
Trump’s legal team asked the court to suspend the earlier discovery order with an amended complaint.
Altman noted that Trump’s proposed amended complaint could eliminate claims that the BBC documentary harmed his businesses, leaving only claims of reputational damage. If that happens, the broadcaster may no longer need access to the same breadth of financial records.
The BBC opposed the request, arguing that Trump’s business success remains closely linked to his public reputation. Its lawyers also noted that Trump’s amended complaint reportedly continues to seek $10 billion in damages.