Shandor Badaruddin, Hartman’s defense attorney and the lawyer ordered Friday to pay the costs of the mistrial, did not return an email seeking comment Sunday afternoon.

Prosecutors charged Hartman, 35, in 2019 after a Troy woman told state investigators Hartman had instructed her to sell her father’s annuity, which would have brought in a $2 million inheritance, and to purchase an annuity from him while never having a license in Montana to give such financial advice, according to charging documents.

Investigators found Hartman had done the same for Libby and Troy residents from 2015 to 2019, and did so without the proper licenses, according to coverage of the trial from The Western News. Initial charging documents state Hartman made more than $700,000 through advising one client to purchase one of his annuities.

Hartman’s defense maintained during the trial he had not exploited anyone. The Western News reported Badaruddin, in opening statements, said state investigators had pressured Hartman’s clients to testify against him.

According to his Friday ruling, Cuffe noted “concerning behavior” throughout the nine-day trial from Hartman’s defense attorney such as wasting time with witnesses on facts that were not in dispute, arriving at the hearings without hard copies of exhibits and bringing witnesses into the courtroom after longer periods of time than necessary.