Category: The Trump Organization

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Capitol Insurrection The Trump Organization WTF?!

Greene Kisses Steve Bannon’s A*s After He’s Referred To DOJ For Contempt: ‘I Was Disgusted And Furious!’

On Thursday, the House of Representatives voted to refer former Trump adviser Steve Bannon to the Justice Department for criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena for documents and testimony sought by the Select Committee on the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

According to the Washington Post, if the DOJ does charge Bannon with contempt, he could be looking at spending at least a year in jail:

Bannon has previously argued through his attorney that he can’t respond to the subpoena because of executive privilege asserted by former president Donald Trump.

The matter now goes to the Justice Department, which will decide whether to pursue the contempt referral. Contempt of Congress is a misdemeanor criminal offense that can result in up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.

Prior to the vote, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) asked his colleagues to consider if they were willing to allow some people to declare that they’re above the law:

Shortly after the vote, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who may also be facing a subpoena for the Jan. 6 committee in the near future, made an appearance on Bannon’s podcast, “War Room: Pandemic,” and wasted no time verbally kissing his ass:

“Here they are, celebrating voting to hold an innocent American in criminal contempt!”

An innocent American? If Bannon and the rest of the suspected plotters are so innocent, why don’t they willingly agree to cooperate with the committee? Only guilty people refuse to comply with a legal subpoena.

Greene then claimed that after the vote — which was approved by a 229-to-202 vote, with 9 Republicans crossing the aisle to vote “yes” — she approached Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and confronted them for taking action against Bannon:

“They lied about you, they lied about President Trump and I was disgusted and furious! So I yelled at them on the House floor! I let Liz Cheney have it, I let Adam Schiff have it, I let Raskin have it! I couldn’t contain myself — I said you people are a joke!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKRrtd2A3TY&t=5s

Classic psychological projection by Greene, who is vying for being the biggest joke of a so-called “representative” when you consider that she managed to get herself booted off all committee assignments with her big mouth and anti-Semitic rhetoric.

Greene and her ilk are running scared, and they damn well should be. If the Jan. 6 committee finds evidence they were also a part of the plotting, they too could wind up being charged with crimes even more serious than contempt of Congress.

 

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Crime Donald Trump The Trump Organization

Former Prosecutor Says He’s Found Evidence Of Financial Fraud By Donald Trump

First things first. Let’s admit that when it comes to Donald Trump, those of us who loathe him are always chomping at the bits and impatiently waiting for the day he’s indicted and booked for the crimes he’s committed.

Now that we have that out of the way, the time has come to take a close look at the case that has already been filed against the Trump Organization and its CFO, Allen Weisselberg, who is facing decades behind bars if he doesn’t agree to cooperate with prosecutors and testify against his boss.

This leads us to an incredibly illuminating article from Andrea Bernstein of The New Yorker, who notes:

Even if no additional charges are filed, the former President’s company faces a potential reckoning. The charging documents and interviews with former prosecutors and white-collar defense lawyers indicate that the District Attorney is accumulating evidence of pervasive tax fraud. The case goes to the heart of what made—and still makes—Trump Trump.

Of course, as he so often does, Donald will likely toss Weisselberg under the bus and claim he had no idea that illegal activity was taking place at his company.

So is there any possible way to prove that Trump did indeed know Weissselberg was inflating the value of the Trump Organization in order to get loans from banks and then deflating the values when it came time to pay taxes?

One section of the indictment against Weisselberg and the Trump Organization shows that the former president won’t be able to claim ignorance of the crimes committed in his name:

People familiar with Trump’s legal battles also took notice of one element of the allegation: Weisselberg is described as making changes to something called “Donald J. Trump’s Detail General Ledger.” If true, the allegation would mean that, in addition to Weisselberg and Trump’s accountants keeping a set of records detailing the company’s finances, there was another ledger, one specifically maintained, the name implies, for Donald J. Trump. “My jaw literally dropped when I saw that,” Tristan Snell, a former New York assistant attorney general, who investigated claims of fraud against Trump University that resulted in a twenty-five-million-dollar settlement, said. “If there was a ledger for him, it blows up the notion that Trump didn’t know about it—it means there was a set of numbers prepared for Donald Trump.” Snell said the public disclosure of the separate ledger’s existence is a signal from the prosecutors to the former President: “We have your ledger.”

They have his ledger. And the ledger shows that crimes were committed and Donald Trump knew about them. He was fully aware of the massive levels of bank and tax fraud. He knew and he condoned it. It can even be said that he expected those who worked for him to do whatever was necessary to help him commit the fraud.

Donald Trump is going to prison. There’s no way to predict when, but it will happen. We’ll just have to tamp down our impatience and wait. But it certainly sounds like the wait will be worthwhile and richly rewarded.

 

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Crime Eric Trump The Trump Organization

Eric Trump’s Attorney In Massive Fraud Lawsuit Dumps Him

An attorney representing Eric Trump in a fraud lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James against the Trump Organization has abruptly resigned, according to Forbes, though it remains unclear why he did so.

Marc Mukasey of Mukasey Frenchman LLP informed a New York state Supreme Court judge in Manhattan that he was withdrawing from the case on Sept. 14. The move comes one day after a judge’s order to seal a stipulation between the parties was filed. Before that agreement, the docket shows no activity in this case since January. It’s not clear if there’s any connection between the agreement and Mukasey’s departure.

Mukasey declined to comment on the record for this story. He has represented Eric Trump in the case since it was filed in August 2020. Eric and representatives from the Trump Organization have not replied to inquiries.

Interestingly, Mukasey is a former law partner of Rudy Giuliani, who once represented former President Donald Trump until the ex-president stopped paying Giuliani for his services. The former New York City mayor is also under criminal investigation in several jurisdictions for his actions during the 2020 election, especially the numerous attempts made by Trump and his allies to overturn the results despite their failure to provide a scintilla of evidence that any fraud or irregularities took place in the balloting. Giuliani has also been barred from practicing law in the state of New York since July.

Mukasey has represented some controversial and high-profile clients over the years, including rogue Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, oil-field service company Halliburton, and basketball coach Rick Pitino.

Attorney General James is investigating Trump Org. for allegedly falsifying the value of its assets to secure loans and reduce its tax liability.

 

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Crime Donald Trump The Trump Organization

Millions Of Tax Documents Uncovered In The Financial Fraud Case Against Trump

Remember Allen Weisselberg? He’s the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization who was charged with several crimes by Manhattan prosecutors in July, including tax fraud and grand larceny.

And now we learn that over 3 million financial and tax documents have been unearthed in the basement of one of Weisselberg’s co-conspirators, according to a report from CNN:

(Bryan) Skarlatos, an attorney for Weisselberg, referenced a dispute between the Manhattan district attorney’s office and Trump Organization lawyers, saying, he is “concerned” that his client “becomes collateral damage in a bigger fight” between the two.

Holding up a manila envelope with a bulge in it, Skarlatos, said that the parties met in the judge chambers, before the court hearing. “It was represented to us by the [district attorney’s office] that this package includes documents found in a co-conspirator’s basement that are tax documents,” Skarlatos said.

Skarlatos did not identify the co-conspirator by name. CNN has reported that one alleged co-conspirator in the investigation is Jeff McConney, the controller of the Trump Organization. McConney has testified at least twice before the grand jury, in which he received immunity for his testimony.

However, the co-conspirator could be anyone with knowledge of the financial dealings of the Trump Organization, including former President Donald Trump and members of his family.

Attorneys also said in court Monday that they expect more indictments to be handed down soon:

“We have strong reason to believe there could be other indictments coming,” Bryan Skarlatos said at a pre-trial hearing in New York State Supreme Court.

Prosecutors are trying to get Weisselberg and other members of the Trump Organization to cooperate with their investigation and provide testimony against the former president and other high-ranking officials of the company.

The Trump Organization is a family-owned and controlled corporation, with the ex-president at the head of the company and his two oldest sons, Donald Jr. and Eric serving as executive vice presidents. Ivanka Trump has also been involved in the business over the years and could be facing legal exposure if she played a role in any criminal activities.

 

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Crime Donald Trump Donald Trump Jr. Eric Trump Ivanka Trump The Trump Organization

Federal Appeals Court Says Multimillion Dollar Fraud Suit Against The Trumps Will Proceed

An enormous class action lawsuit filed against former President Donald Trump and his three oldest children — Don Jr., Eric, and Ivanka — will move forward despite pleas from the Trumps that the case be allowed to go to arbitration.

According to Courthouse News, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that the lawsuit, accuses the Trumps of running a pyramid scheme to hawk the services of American Communications Network, which allegedly ran a multilevel marketing scheme that bilked investors and never produced the financial returns it promised:

“Trump and three of his children — Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump — appeared from 2005 to 2015 in promotional television ads, at events and in magazines touting American Communications Network, a telecommunications company that offers business seminars and encourages enrollees to bring in new recruits.

“In a 2018 federal class action, four investors who said they lost hundreds or thousands of dollars investing with ACN sought damages from the then-first family and their corporate entity, the Trump Organization, saying they concealed that ACN paid them handsomely for their endorsements.”

Here’s how the scheme worked: ACN made investors pay $499 up front so they could register with the promise that they could then earn commissions by selling products at “motivational rallies.” At those rallies, family and friends were shown a DVD to encourage them to pony up money for their share of a massive payday promised in ACN’s promotional materials, many of which featured the Trumps encouraging people to pay money so the could reap the rewards, which never materialized.

In the lawsuit, investors reported they made back “less than 10%” of their initial investment.

Much like another illegal scheme, Trump University, the only people who made money in the ACN/Trump deal were the principals: ACN and the Trump family.

A class action judgement against the Trumps could put a massive dent in their bottom line at a time when the Trump Organization is reportedly hemorrhaging money and the former president is unable to lure investors to his struggling real estate business.

The Trump Organization is also under criminal indictment for engaging in tax fraud over the course of decades. Those indictments were handed down earlier this month.