Category: The Trump Organization

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Crime Donald Trump The Trump Organization

Michael Cohen Says ‘Very Exciting’ Indictments Are Coming Soon From The Manhattan DA’s Office

According to Michael Cohen, who was personal attorney to failed, one-term former President Donald Trump for several years, he expects the office of new Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg will call him back very soon and predicts “very exciting” indictments are coming in the case against Trump and the Trump Organization.

Cohen was a guest on MSNBC Sunday and was asked by host Alex Witt:

“What are your predictions for 2022 relative to the Trump probe? The fact that Cy Vance has now left office, do you think you’ll be contacted by the new Manhattan DA?”

Cohen replied:

“Yeah, I absolutely do. I think we’re going to start to see a lot of movement now. There’s a lot of momentum going on both at the DA’s office as well as the [New York State] attorney general.”

And Cohen then made his prediction of new indictments in the weeks ahead:

“This case is not over simply because Cy Vance is now out of office. To the contrary, I believe things are going to start ramping up. I think they’ll start moving quickly. I do believe that 2022, especially the early part is going to see some indictments and some very exciting ones for those of us that want to see justice.”

Cohen has previously said that he’s provided Manhattan prosecutors with everything they’ve asked for, and remarked in June of last year:

“I do believe that there is a mounting amount of evidence that they will be prosecuting upon. Some of it of course is civil, and other parts of it are criminal.”

How sweet it would be to see Trump and members of his family indicted for their decades of skirting the laws that are supposed to apply to all of us! It’s Donald’s worst nightmare, and it may be on the verge of finally happening.

Here’s the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5NIBvrw920&feature=emb_logo

Categories
Crime Donald Trump The Trump Organization

Trump Ordered To Testify Under Oath In New York Fraud Investigation

Failed, one-term, twice-impeached former President Donald Trump has been notified that he will have to sit for a sworn deposition in the civil fraud case against him in New York.

The Washington Post reports:

New York Attorney General Letitia James is seeking a deposition from former president Donald Trump early next year as part of her investigation into potential fraud inside the Trump Organization, according to people familiar with the matter.

James has requested to take his testimony on Jan. 7 at her New York office as part of a civil investigation into whether Trump’s company committed financial fraud in the valuations of properties to different entities, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the inquiry is ongoing.

One of the people familiar with the investigation said James is examining whether widespread fraud “permeated the Trump Organization.”

Notified of the deposition date, a spokesperson for the Trump Organization used one of the ex-president’s favorite invocations whenever he’s being investigated:

“This is another political witch-hunt,” the statement said, noting that James is running for governor next year. “The only focus of the New York AG is to investigate Trump, all for her own political ambitions … This political prosecution is illegal, unethical and is a travesty to our great state and legal system.”

James is clearly turning up the heat on Trump, who is also under criminal investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. Vance suspects Trump and his company inflated the value of real estate assets in order to get larger loans from lenders and later devalued those same properties to avoid paying the required taxes. Bank and tax fraud are just two of the crimes under investigation by Vance.

The former president’s son, Eric, has given a deposition in the fraud investigation being conducted by James. He originally refused to sit for a deposition but later relented. That deposition was given in October of last year, shortly before American voters booted the Donald Trump from the White House and replaced him with President Joe Biden.

The danger of Trump giving a deposition cannot be overstated, according to biographer Tim O’Brien, who has written extensively about the ex-president:

“He can’t be scripted, and he’s injudicious, and he often doesn’t understand that the process is about events and facts, rather than being performance art.”

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Capitol Insurrection Donald Trump Mike Pence The Trump Organization WTF?!

Trump Claims Threats To ‘Hang Mike Pence’ Were OK Because ‘People Were Very Angry’

Chants and threats to “hang Mike Pence” by insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 were no big deal, according to failed former President Donald Trump because “people were very angry.”

In an interview with Jonathan Karl of ABC News, the one-term, twice-impeached Trump said he was certain Pence was safe as thousands of pro-Trump supporters rioted and forced their way into Congress on the day that the 2020 presidential election was being certified.

Karl asked Trump:

“Were you worried about (Pence) during that siege? Were you worried about his safety?”

Trump responded:

“No, I thought he was well-protected, and I had heard that he was in good shape. No. Because I had heard he was in very good shape. But, but, no, I think —”

That led Karl to interject:

“Because you heard those chants — that was terrible. I mean — “

Trump:

“He could have — well, the people were very angry.”

And then Trump began to further rationalize how close Pence came to being killed:

“Because it’s common sense, Jon. It’s common sense that you’re supposed to protect. How can you — if you know a vote is fraudulent, right? — how can you pass on a fraudulent vote to Congress? How can you do that? And I’m telling you: 50/50, it’s right down the middle for the top constitutional scholars when I speak to them. Anybody I spoke to — almost all of them at least pretty much agree, and some very much agree with me — because he’s passing on a vote that he knows is fraudulent. How can you pass a vote that you know is fraudulent? Now, when I spoke to him, I really talked about all of the fraudulent things that happened during the election. I didn’t talk about the main point, which is the legislatures did not approve — five states. The legislatures did not approve all of those changes that made the difference between a very easy win for me in the states, or a loss that was very close, because the losses were all very close.”

In other words, because Trump lost to President Joe Biden, Pence was expendable, little more than a pawn in the larger plan for a coup that the ex-president and his allies put in place shortly after it became clear that Biden had won by a landslide.

If the House Select Committee was looking for a smoking gun which proves Donald Trump’s culpability for what took place on Jan. 6, they don’t have to look any further than his remarks to Jon Karl.

 

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Crime Donald Trump The Trump Organization Uncategorized

New Grand Jury Seated In Manhattan As Case Against Trump Expands Again: Report

 

A second long-term grand jury has just been seated in Manhattan, according to the Washington Post, and the legal investigation of failed, one-term former President Donald Trump and his company, the Trump Organization, has expanded yet again.

The new grand jury, empaneled by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., will meet for three days a week over the next six months:

It was expected to hear evidence on Thursday, meeting in Manhattan’s Surrogate’s Court — usually a forum for disputes over the estates of the deceased — because the criminal court buildings are jammed with a rush of post-pandemic trials.

One person familiar with the matter said the second grand jury was expected to examine how former president Donald Trump’s company valued its assets.

The first grand jury investigated possible tax fraud by members of the Trump Organization, which resulted in the indictment of Allen Weisselberg, the chief financial officer of Trump Organization who allegedly hid compensation from the IRS that was paid to them by the ex-president.

Trump and his company are also under investigation by New York Attorney General Letitia James:

James (D) said in a court filing last year that her office was investigating Trump’s valuations of three properties: his Los Angeles golf course, a Manhattan office building and an estate in suburban New York called Seven Springs.

James’s filing said she was interested in a “conservation easement” that Trump obtained on the Seven Springs property in 2015 — giving him tax benefits in exchange for renouncing his right to build houses on part of the estate. Trump boosted the value of that tax break by estimating that the land would have brought him $21 million if he’d sold it.

The Trumps have repeatedly whined that they are being targeted by the legal system for political reasons, with Trump Org. Executive Vice President Eric Trump saying:

“This type of targeting and harassment violates every ethical guideline of a prosecutor. It’s wrong.”

Categories
Crime Donald Trump The Trump Organization

Former Trump Org. Employee Tells Prosecutors About Massive Insurance Fraud By Donald

 

Already under investigation in New York for allegedly committing financial fraud, it now appears that failed, one-term former President Donald Trump and his company, the Trump Organization, are also facing charges of insurance fraud after a former employee at one of Trump’s golf clubs says Trump repeatedly filed inflated damage claims.

Rolling Stone reports the alleged fraud took place at the Briarcliff golf course:

“When a deluge flooded the Trump Organization’s Westchester County golf course and a nearby town in 2011, the organization used a wildly inflated claim to score an insurance payout of nearly $1.3 million, pulling in far more than what it spent to repair the course. The previously unreported insurance claim at Trump National Golf Club in the Village of Briarcliff Manor far outstripped the cost to repair the damages, which were about $130,000 to $150,000, one of the sources says.”

The former employee also noted:

“The work was never completed. They basically band-aided it.”

Initially, Trump’s company filed a wildly inflated claim but were refused payment when the insurer demanded Trump provide receipts, which were never made available.

This latest claim of fraud could place Trump and Trump Org. in even greater legal jeopardy:

The Westchester County District Attorney’s office has opened a criminal investigation into financial dealings at Trump’s Briarcliff club. The New York Times, which first reported the investigation, said it appears focused at least in part on whether the Trump Organization misled local officials about the value of the property to reduce its taxes. The organization’s alleged insurance shenanigans at Briarcliff may help explain how the Trump Organization, year over year, took in more from insurance than it paid out in premiums. One of the sources said the company would routinely gather overinflated repair estimates, often from members of Trump’s clubs, that could be used to justify insurance claims. In a conversation with top company officials, the source learned that the Trump Organization calculated that it got more than $2 back from insurers for every dollar it paid in — a return of more than 100 percent. Broadly, the source says, the company viewed insurance not as an expense, but rather as an ongoing source of profit.

With Trump hinting that he plans to run for president again in 2024, it could be that his strategy is to block all legal actions against him by getting presidential immunity from any lawsuits if and when he’s back in the White House. Many legal experts say charges against the former president and his company need to be filed as soon as possible to make sure Trump is held liable for his misdeeds.