Trump's Fed candidate, Stephen Moore, has been found guilty of contempt for failing to pay more than $ 333,000 to his ex-wife.

A court in Fairfax County, Virginia, ordered Stephen Moore to sell his house in order to pay his ex-wife, Allison Moore, the money he owed him legally but what he had not paid for months. Stephen Moore ended up paying $ 217,000, although it was only after the court sent to his home several police officers, two realtors and a locksmith for them to modify the locks and prepare the property for sale.

Allison Moore told the court that the payment was enough to no longer force her ex-husband to sell the house.

Stephen and Allison Moore, who have three children together, were married for two decades before getting divorced in 2011. Allison Moore commenced divorce proceedings in 2010, and her divorce lawsuit indicates that her husband at the time had opened a Match.com account and had a mistress.

Allison Moore said in the divorce that she was a good wife who "was a victim of emotional and psychological abuse by [Stephen Moore] throughout their marriage ", especially having to flee the family home with their youngest child in the fall of 2009.

Stephen Moore signed a document stating that he "admitted all the allegations" in his ex-wife's divorce petition.

The contempt of court was reported for the first time by the Guardian. Allison Moore then asked to seal the records. Divorce cases were unsealed Friday after a call from The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Guardian.

Stephen Moore appeared on television and on the radio this week, accusing the media of trying to derail his appointment by tracking a complicated divorce and a $ 75,000 tax lien against him, resulting from an error on his 2014 tax return. He states that he and his ex-wife now enjoy better terms and that he has made efforts to settle the tax lien with the Internal Revenue Service, including paying an excessive tax in recent years.

"They do not want to talk about my economic ideas; they want to murder my character. That's what the left is doing, "Stephen Moore said Monday in an appearance in" The Ingraham Angle. "" I do not back down. "

Earlier Friday by e-mail, he told The Washington Post: "This payment issue was only settled six years ago." He pointed to a statement from his ex-wife earlier in the week: " We hope the media will respect our privacy. We remain on cordial terms.

Many economists have expressed concern that Moore may not be able to sit on the Fed's board of directors because he did not have much expertise in central banking. His apparent breaches of the law also raised questions about his ability to be one of the country's leading economic decision-makers.

"It would be better to pay them!" Said Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) After hearing about the unpaid taxes of the potential candidate.

Stephen Moore has repeatedly praised marriage and homes with a "devoted husband and wife" as being the best cure for poverty and other social ills. In the Washington Examiner, he wrote a commentary titled "Marriage, the Safest Economic Stimulus" in October 2014, about a year after the court was forced to force him to pay alimony to his ex-wife. alimony.

Allison Moore says that her husband slept with his mistress in the family home and said at the graduation ceremony of one of their sons: "I have two women and what is really bad," she said. when they argue for you. "

Trump has been furious with the Fed for months and blamed the central bank for any downturn in the stock market or weak economic data. Last week, Trump announced plans to nominate Herman and Herman Cain, a former GOP presidential candidate, to fill the remaining two seats on the seven-member Fed board.

Both candidates will likely be subject to scrutiny during the Senate confirmation process. In addition to Stephen Moore's past problems with the payment of his ex-wife and his taxes, he also headed the conservative Club for Growth advocacy group at the time of a proven violation of the rules of the Federal Election Commission. The Club for Growth finally paid $ 350,000 to settle with the FEC.

Stephen Moore holds a Master's degree in Economics and has spent much of his career as an economic commentator for various media and a senior member of the Heritage Foundation Curatorial. Fed governors were traditionally economists with PhDs, bankers or company leaders. Every word said by a governor is closely monitored because it sets interest rates and many banking regulations.

Moore called for higher interest rates while Democrats were in the White House and is now advocating for lower rates, which typically serve to stimulate the economy, even though he says that the country is economically prosperous.

The White House has supported Moore in recent days, as details of his past surfaced.

"President Trump is perfectly entitled to make his appointments," said Larry Kudlow, president of the National Economic Council, on Fox Business.

Related:

Trump plans to appoint Herman Cain to the Fed's board of directors

Stephen Moore faces difficult questions about his past opinions, a $ 75,000 tax lien and his tenure at Club for Growth