Category: The Trump Organization

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Crime Donald Trump The Trump Organization

Trump’s Financial Penalty For Inflating His Net Worth Could Reach $1 Billion: Report

In addition to possibly watching as New York Attorney General Letitia James shuts down the Trump Organization, failed, one-term former president Donald Trump is also facing the prospect of having to pay up to $1 billion in financial penalties to the state for inflating the value of his business.

That’s the opinion of Trump’s former attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen, who floated the $1 billion figure during an appearance on MSNBC Thursday.

Speaking with host Ari Melber, Cohen remarked:

“I think Tish James is fantastic. I think she is an incredible attorney general, and an attorney general that I wish every single state in this country had. I actually wish [Manhattan DA] Alvin Bragg had been a little more Tish James. Though I’m going give Alvin a little bit of leeway as we now in October have the case against the Trump Organization … you cannot separate the Trump Organization from Donald.”

The led Melber to ask:

“Knowing him well, where do you think his head and emotions are at today, when he sees the prospect that he could really be booted from New York business, not him or his kids able to run any business here?”

Cohen replied:

“One of the things you talked about at the beginning, she’s seeking $250 million. That’s not accurate. What she said was the baseline of $250 million. Knowing the documents the way I do and knowing exactly the fraud that was going on, I see the number between $750 million and $1 billion.”

Imagine it: Trump is forbidden from ever doing business in the state of New York, the Trump Organization is permanently shuttered, and on top of that, the Donald has to pay $1 billion in penalties to the Empire State. He doesn’t have $1 billion, and no one is going to loan him a sum that large. He’d be forced to declare bankruptcy and liquidate all his assets.

Sounds about right considering all the harm Trump has done to this country.

 

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Crime Donald Trump The Trump Organization

NY Says Trump Inflated Value Of Mar-a-Lago By 10x – That Could Mean Seizure Of The Resort

When New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that she was filing a civil lawsuit against Donald Trump, his three eldest children, and the Trump Organization for fraud, one of the things she mentioned as an example of the alleged fraud committed involved the ex-president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

The Washington Post reports:

The lawsuit, filed in New York Supreme Court, is the result of a more than two-year investigation by James and names 23 properties in the Trump Organization portfolio, including his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida, his Seven Springs estate in Westchester County, N.Y., and the D.C. hotel he leased from the federal government until he sold it in May.

“The inflated asset valuations in the Statements cannot be brushed aside or excused as merely the result of exaggeration or good faith estimation about which reasonable real estate professionals may differ,” it says.

Here’s how James explained the way Trump overvalued Mar-a-Lago:

And the suit says Trump valued his Mar-a-Lago club property in Palm Beach, Florida, on the false premise that it sat on unrestricted property and could be developed for residential use, even though he allegedly knew that asset was subject to a slew of tight restrictions.

Mar-a-Lago “generated less than $25 million in annual revenue,” James said. “It should have been valued at about $75 million, but it was valued at $739 million.”

But the real danger for Trump, his family, and his company is that James has a weapon at her disposal that would allow her to impose what’s know as the “corporate death penalty” in the Empire State, as was first reported by Business Insider last month:

Fines and back taxes, however, may be the least of what Trump’s facing. James has signaled she will also seek the dissolution of the business itself under New York’s so-called corporate death penalty — a law that allows the AG to seek to dissolve businesses that operate ‘in a persistently fraudulent or illegal manner.’

In the coming months, James will be turning up the heat on the Trumps. And by the time she’s finished, the Trump Organization could be nothing but a bad memory.

 

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Business Donald Trump The Trump Organization

Guilty Plea By Trump Org. CFO Means ‘It’s All Over’ For Donald’s Company: Former Prosecutor

Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization is on the verge of reaching an agreement with prosecutors in which he will plead guilty to multiple felony charges, including tax fraud.

The Washington Post notes, however, that Weisselberg will not agree to testify against Trump:

The specific terms of any plea agreement were not immediately clear. One of the people with knowledge of the matter, who spoke Monday on the condition of anonymity, said they expected Weisselberg to be sentenced to about five months behind bars. The person also said Weisselberg is not expected to help with an ongoing inquiry into Trump, who is facing legal scrutiny from multiple directions.

Weisselberg was charged with more than a dozen felony counts when he was indicted last year, among them grand larceny and criminal tax fraud. Before the indictment, a person familiar with the investigation into Trump’s finances had said prosecutors hoped to convince Weisselberg to testify against the former president as part of a deal that would reduce his own legal jeopardy.

Despite no cooperation from Weisselberg when it comes to helping convict Trump, according to former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, the upcoming guilty plea is the end of Donald Trump’s company.

During an appearance on MSNBC, Weissmann explained:

“The reason that is important for Donald Trump is the Trump Organization is scheduled for trial in October. Once Allen Weisselberg pleads guilty, it is over for the Trump Organization. The crimes he committed, get imputed to the Trump Organization. So, the leverage in terms of the financial consequences to Donald Trump doesn’t mean he’s gonna go to jail, but the consequences for the Trump Organization are huge.”

Weissmann added that everything is falling apart for the disgraced ex-president on the legal front:

“This is a big deal. So, I think that would be number one, focus on the financial consequences of the Allen Weisselberg deal. And then, down the road, I mean, Lawrence, you laid out a litany of criminal and national security trouble, in Florida, in D.C., in Georgia. And this is a day where you saw a movement on all fronts. And to me, the thing that I thought was probably the most telling was the grand jury subpoena to Eric Herschmann. There is a guy who can completely corroborate what we heard from Cassidy Hutchinson. I am sure he has information.”

Could Donald Trump soon be facing imprisonment and the implosion of his corporation? It certainly looks that way, and it couldn’t possibly happen to a more deserving person.

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Business Donald Trump The Trump Organization

Now That Trump Has Pled The Fifth, New York AG Can Impose The ‘Corporate Death Penalty’ On His Company

Earlier today, disgraced, one-term former president Donald Trump raised his hand, swore to tell the truth, and then repeatedly exercised his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, which was in complete accord with the United States Constitution.

According to the Washington Post:

Former president Donald Trump arrived at the office of the New York attorney general Wednesday morning to give sworn testimony in a long-running civil probe of his business dealings, specifically his representations to lenders and tax agencies about the value of his assets.

In a lengthy statement, Trump denied wrongdoing, accused the U.S. government of unfairly targeting him and said he would refuse to answer questions, citing his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself.

However, while Trump didn’t have to testify, his refusal to do so in the civil case being pursued against him and Trump Organization by New York Attorney General Letitia James could mean that his company vanishes from the face earth if James decides to pursue what’s known as the “corporate death penalty” against his real estate and branding business.

Business Insider notes that James can now ask a court for a variety of penalties:

In the coming weeks or even days, the AG is expected to file a massive, long-threatened ‘enforcement action’ — essentially a multi-hundred-page lawsuit against the Trumps and his Manhattan-based business. Fines and back taxes, however, may be the least of what Trump’s facing. James has signaled she will also seek the dissolution of the business itself under New York’s so-called corporate death penalty — a law that allows the AG to seek to dissolve businesses that operate ‘in a persistently fraudulent or illegal manner.’

Tristan Snell, who was able to get Trump University shut down under New York’s corporate death penalty law, noted:

“This cuts right to the crown jewel of his real estate portfolio.

“It’s everything, because at issue is Trump Tower [where the Trump Organization is headquartered in Manhattan], at issue is 40 Wall Street, which is one of his most beloved properties and probably one of the more valuable ones. All of his golf courses are also at stake, so it’s a big deal.”

Snell explained further on Twitter:

In other words, this has been the week from hell for Donald Trump. His residence was searched by the FBI, he’s on the verge of seeing his company liquidated, and he facing the prospect of being not only broke, but on his way to federal prison.

Lock him up!

 

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Crime Donald Trump The Trump Organization

Trump’s Relocation To Florida Gives Prosecutors A New Weapon They Can Use Against Him

After he lost the 2020 election in historic fashion to President Joe Biden, failed, one-term, twice-impeached former President Donald Trump decided he wouldn’t return to New York, which had been his home for decades.

Instead, Trump took up residence at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach, Florida golf resort.

But that change of residence may wind up biting Donald in a big way when it comes to the legal problems he’s facing from prosecutors back in the Empire State, according to Asawin Suebsaeng and Jose Pagliery of The Daily Beast:

“Law enforcement in New York has five years from the date of an alleged crime to officially file charges for most felonies, but under New York law § 30.10(4)(a)(i), that clock stops for up to five more years when a defendant is outside the state. That 10-year grace period means Trump’s time in the White House and his post-presidential political exile at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida may be gifting prosecutors much-needed extra time.”

Yes, by relocating Trump has added an additional five year timeframe for prosecutors, which is badly needed, especially for financial crimes involving a business empire as big and widespread as the ex-president’s. That gives those investigators a cushion that will allow them to take an even more extensive look at what crimes Trump and the Trump Organization may have committed.

Reportedly, investigators in New York are “poring over thousands of spreadsheets and financial records from the Trump Organization and slowly building a case against Trump for allegedly inflating property values, lying on business forms, dodging taxes, duping banks.”

There are currently two active investigations of Trump in the state of his birth. One is being conducted by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and the other is a civil matter under the purview of New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Former Manhattan prosecutor Adam Kaufmann said he cannot recall when New York has used the obscure statute in the past, but added it’s easy to prove that it applies to Trump:

“You don’t often have white collar cases that are so… old. It just doesn’t happen that much that you’re trying to get something from more than five years ago. It’s easy to prove he was not in the state of New York. There’s going to be records of where he was physically located every day for four years.”

So while Trump may have decided to abandon New York out of spite, that one decision may wind up being what screws him in the end. How’s that for perfect irony?