Tag: Fraud

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Crime Donald Trump The Trump Organization

Trump Canceled Monday Testimony For Fear Of Committing Perjury: Report

Former president Donald Trump’s scheduled testimony in the New York fraud trail that could lead to the collapse of the Trump Organization was abruptly canceled on Sunday, with the ex-president announcing on social media that he wouldn’t be offering any defense of the charges against him.

On his failing Truth Social site, Trump wrote:

“I have already testified to everything & have nothing more to say other than this is a complete & total election interference (Biden campaign!) witch hunt,” so “I will not be testifying on Monday.”

The actual reason, according to Forbes reporter Dan Alexander can be explained with one word: Perjury.

Trump and his attorneys are terrified that any testimony he gives would open him to additional charges of lying under oath, which led to the reversal.

“Trump blamed others for getting it wrong,” Alexander noted on Twitter. “Then, after Trump testified, we at Forbes released an audio clip–which had not previously been made public–showing him personally lying about the square footage of his penthouse, claiming it was 33,000 square feet.”

Alexander gave another example of how prosecutors working for New York Attorney General Letitia James would have tried to get the ex-president to commit perjury.

“Take 40 Wall Street. In his earlier testimony, the state asked Trump: ‘Have you ever inflated the operating income of 40 Wall Street?’ Trump, when asked if he had ever inflated the operating income at 40 Wall Street, replied: ‘Not that I know of.’ But he has, by egregious amounts. We have that on tape, too.”

Trump has already lost the civil case brought by AG James. All that remains is for Judge Arthur Engoron to attach a monetary penalty for the bank, insurance, and tax fraud he allegedly committed. James is asking the court for a judgement of $250 million.

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Crime Donald Trump The Trump Organization

New Recording Proves Trump’s Fraud Defense Is Bulls*it

For two months now, failed one-term, twice-impeached, and multiply-indicted ex-president Donald Trump and his attorneys have repeatedly claimed he had absolutely nothing to do with overvaluing his real estate holdings and that those estimates were made by others.

But that defense has now been utterly destroyed by an audio recording uncovered by Forbes which proves Trump did indeed play a role in committing bank and tax fraud by falsifying values of his properties.

Specifically, there’s a financial statement from Trump in which he tripled the size of his penthouse apartment in Trump Tower.

The audio obtained by Forbes shows that as far back as 2015, Trump was bragging (and lying) about his assets, remarking in an interview:

“This is the entire floor of Trump Tower, just so you understand. This isn’t like, I’ll show you. Now, this wraps all around the building. All around the elevators. And I have three times three. So there’s like 11,000 feet on a floor. So I have three. So 33,000—and I have the roof.”

The actual size of the penthouse is 11,000 square feet. Trump tripled it.

The Forbes report continues:

In fact, Forbes uncovered the square-footage discrepancy and informed Weisselberg and McConney that the apartment was 10,996 square feet in February of 2017. The Trump Organization nonetheless continued to use the incorrect square footage on a net-worth statement dated mid-March. Forbes then published an article headlined ‘Donald Trump Has Been Lying About The Size Of His Penthouse’ in May 2017. It was only after that story came out—while Donald Trump was in the White House—that the Trump Organization changed its calculation to reflect the true square footage of the apartment.

Having already been found guilty of fraud by New York Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron, the trial has entered the penalty phase, which could result in a massive financial judgement against the former president and the Trump Organization.

New York Attorney General Letitia James is seeking at $250 million judgement against Trump and his company. Such a finding, along with accrued interest and penalties, would likely result in the financial collapse of Trump Org. and dissolution of the Trump empire.

 

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Crime Donald Trump The Trump Organization

Letitia James Mocks Trump’s Latest Fraud Defense By Calling His ‘Experts’ Nothing But ‘Golf Buddies’

As she has repeatedly proven over the course of the ongoing fraud trial against former president Donald Trump and the Trump Organization, New York Attorney Letitia James has a factual retort for every so-called defense Trump’s legal team puts forth.

One of those witnesses sounded like he was testifying for the prosecution, according to Business Insider.

When it comes to Donald Trump’s estimates of his net worth, “questionable” and “inconsistencies” are words you’d expect to hear only from his accuser, the state of New York.

But on Wednesday, Trump’s third day of presenting defense witnesses for his Manhattan fraud trial, an expert accountant took the stand in the former president’s defense for a second day and used these very words to describe the creative math at the center of the case.

“It’s certainly a red flag for me,” testified the expert, Jason Flemmons, referring to an internal Trump Organization spreadsheet from 2016 displayed on overhead screens in the lower Manhattan courtroom.

And then there was Steven Laposa, who admitted that he isn’t an expert on real estate appraisals.

Laposa said the attorney general’s approach to valuation was “flawed” because it relied on a market value analysis of Trump’s properties. He argued it should have been based on the investment value, which takes into account the owner’s investment requirements.

When Laposa returned to the stand Friday, a lawyer for the attorney general’s office asked him if he had any experience reviewing personal financial statements. Laposa said no.

That led AG James to lay waste to the Trump defense, which is crumbling almost as quickly as the Trump Organization itself.

In a video she posted online, James noted that most of the people testifying in Trump’s behalf aren’t experts at all. They’re just golfing buddies.

“We heard testimony from their many expert witnesses, but they weren’t real experts.

“We did learn something. Several of these experts are longtime friends and golf buddies of Donald Trump.”

James then focused in on why she didn’t believe a word Trump’s defenders had said in court and under oath.

“Their accounting expert has never once worked on the types of financial statements at the heart of Donald Trump’s fraud,” she explained.

“Their expert on real estate finance admitted that he not only lacks experience in valuing real estate, but he also does not have any experience with the accounting standards and personal financial statements that this case revolves around.”

Some of the witnesses, James continued, do other connections to Trump: They’ve donated money to him and been buddies for years.

“One has donated millions of dollars to Donald Trump’s campaign and his son even got married at Mar-a-Lago. Another is a member of Mar-a-Lago and several other Trump golf clubs.”

Tish James is a boss, and she’s got Donnie’s number.

 

Categories
Crime Eric Trump Social Media The Trump Organization WTF?!

Eric Trump Gets Brutally Mocked For Claiming His Family’s Assets Are The ‘Mona Lisas’ Of Real Estate

Social media erupted with laughter and mockery over the weekend in response to remarks made by Eric Trump in which he suggested the Trump Organization’s properties were the “Mona Lisas” of real estate.

During a Saturday appearance on Fox “News,” Eric insisted, “Our assets are worth a fortune,” and adding:

“They’re the Mona Lisas of the real estate world.”

Despite Eric’s protestations, New York Attorney General Letitia James has already received a judgement of fraud against the Trump Organization and the company could be hit with fines and penalties that exceed a half billion dollars, which would likely lead to the complete dissolution of Trump Org.

However, it was the Mona Lisa comparison that drew the most reaction on Twitter.

 

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Donald Trump Ivanka Trump Social Media

Trump Has Midnight Social Media Meltdown Hours Before Ivanka Takes The Witness Stand In Fraud Trial

Hours before his daughter Ivanka is scheduled to testify in the New York fraud trail that could spell the dissolution of the Trump Organization, failed one-term, twice-impeached, and multiply-indicted former president Donald Trump went on a midnight social media rant, accusing state Attorney General Letitia James of being “Corrupt and Racist.”

The posting, which was made at 12:15 a.m. reads:

“Tomorrow my wonderful and beautiful daughter, Ivanka, is going to the Lower Manhattan Courthouse, at the direction of Letitia Peekaboo James, the Corrupt and Racist New York State Attorney General, who has allowed Murder and Violent Crime in New York to flourish, and a Trump Hating, out of control Clubhouse appointed Judge, Arthur Engoron, who viciously ruled against me before the trial even started, wouldn’t even consider a Jury, and said that Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida, is worth $18,000,000 when, in fact, it is worth 50 to 100 times that amount.”

The disgraced ex-president added:

“Other properties likewise. Based on this information, which is so ridiculous, he said that I was a Fraud, when in fact it is Letitia James and the Judge who are Fraudulent for setting such LOW VALUATIONS in order to undermine and discredit my Financial Statements, thereby making me look bad – Election Interference! Now they are trying to bring Ivanka into the case, despite the Court of Appeals ruling that she cannot be charged. Sad!”

Indeed, Ivanka has not been charged as part of the systematic fraud the Trump Organization was found guilty of in New York. The judge in the case is now trying to determine what financial penalty should be imposed, and with interest and penalties, the total bill for years of bank and tax fraud could exceed $600 million, according to Trump’s former attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen, who noted recently during an appearance on MSNBC:

“There is a baseline here of $250 million. She does not believe that it will be less than $250 million. I suspect that it will be in excess of $600 million.”