A Democratic congressional candidate running in a competitive swing state race was once excoriated in court as an environmental lawyer for overbilling the federal government for “imaginary” legal services, court records show.

Court records obtained by the Washington Examiner show Kirsten Engel, as a then-staff attorney for the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, now known as Earthjustice, faced condemnation in 1993 from a panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for the apparent overbilling of attorneys’ fees. Engel’s behavior, judges found, was a “serious transgression” and “aberration,” according to the written opinion.