Tag: Letitia James

Categories
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!

 

Categories
Donald Trump Donald Trump Jr. Ivanka Trump WTF?!

Trump Says He And His Kids Will Give Depositions – If The New York AG Grants Them ‘Immunity’

Proving yet again that failed, one-term former President Donald Trump fears one thing — testifying under oath — above all others, an appeal filed on his behalf and that of his two oldest children, Don Jr. and Ivanka, demands that the Trumps be given “immunity” if they agree to obey a legal subpoena and to give sworn depositions.

Yes, you read that correctly: He wants immunity because he knows he’s committed numerous crimes and is terrified of being charged with them.

According to CNN, the legal reasoning behind the appeal is nothing short of absurd:

In their appeal filed Monday, Trump and his children Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. argued that if New York Attorney General Letitia James wants their testimony, she should bring them before a state grand jury investigating the Trump Organization, where witnesses receive transactional immunity for their testimony in New York.

The Trumps’ attorneys wrote that if the attorney general’s office is allowed to depose their clients, the state’s constitutional and statutory protections can easily be “eviscerated if the same agency involved in the criminal investigation simply opens up a ‘civil’ investigation into the very same matters.”

“The question is whether the (Office of the Attorney General) can use the office subpoenas to avoid the grand jury process and compel testimony from those whom it does not wish to grant immunity,” the appeal states.

A judge has previously ruled that if the Trumps want to avoid legal liability for giving depositions, they can always invoke their Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. However, such a move could come back to haunt the Trump family and their company, the Trump Organization because the number of times they cite the Fifth can be introduced as evidence against them in a civil ruling such as the one New York Attorney General Letitia James is seeking. A ruling against the Trump Organization could also lead to the company being shut down and its assets seized by the state of New York.

Eric Trump, who serves as Executive Vice President of Trump Org., gave a deposition in October of 2020 in response to to a deposition from AG James.

Categories
Crime Ivanka Trump

Prosecutors Focusing On Ivanka For Committing Massive Fraud At The Trump Organization

While it’s long been known that Ivanka Trump is her father’s favorite child, it’s beginning to look like she’s almost as big of a liar and crook as her old man, too.

According to the Washington Post, New York Attorney General Letitia James suspects that Ivanka, acting on behalf of the Trump Organization, inflated the valuations of properties and other assets in order to bolster the company’s bid to lease the old Washington, D.C. Post Office and convert it to a Trump branded hotel:

As part of his bid for the GSA lease, Trump submitted statements of financial condition, according to a recent filing from James’s office and documents released by the House Oversight Committee. James alleged that in doing so, Trump and his daughter Ivanka — at the time an executive at his company who oversaw the project — won the hotel lease in part by providing the government with false financial information.

Ivanka Trump submitted the Trump Organization’s proposal and presented it on behalf of the company. James’s office noted in its filing that that “presentation and the associated bid explicitly incorporated the Statement of Financial Condition of Donald J. Trump.”

Rachel Maddow has now taken the Post’s reporting further, revealing that one of the properties under investigation as part of the fraud is a luxury apartment owned by Ivanka, as she explained on her show:

“Under her rental agreement, she apparently had the option to buy that apartment if she wanted to, for the cost of $8.5 million. But in the forms that were submitted to get the loans for the DC hotel, that very same apartment was listed as being worth more than $20 million. Then a few years later, they listed it as being worth $25 million — even though they knew there was an option to buy it for just $8.5 million. Attorney General James is looking into exactly that type of potentially illegally inflation of the Trump family and Trump Organization’s financial situation for a whole bunch of Trump properties.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=s1ZG6kj6rcc&feature=emb_logo

Since we know that the Trump Organization is already being investigated for such valuation lies (raising values to get bigger loans and then devaluing those same properties when it came time to pay taxes), it would seem that Ivanka was one of the masterminds behind the entire shell game the ex-president’s company was playing in order to gain a financial advantage, even though such actions are illegal.

If James has the evidence to support such a charge (and she has volumes of financial records and tax returns from the Trump Organization), then the best attorneys in the world won’t be able to save Ivanka or her old man from the legal hammer that’s about to come down on them.

 

Categories
Crime Donald Trump Jr. Ivanka Trump The Trump Organization

New York Attorney General Tish James Lays A Nasty Burn On Don Jr. And Ivanka

 

It was recently revealed that New York Attorney General Letitia James has subpoenaed Don Jr. and Ivanka, the two eldest children of failed, one-term former President Donald Trump, for testimony as part of an ongoing financial fraud investigation being conducted by her office.

As you’d expect, the two Trump kids say they won’t comply with the subpoenas and have gone to court to have them quashed, according to ABC News:

Former President Trump’s eldest son and daughter have refused to comply with subpoenas issued by the New York State attorney general’s office as it conducts a civil investigation into the way the family real estate business valued its holdings.

“A dispute has arisen between the OAG and the Individual Trump Parties regarding the Subpoenas,” a document filed Monday said.

Despite the attempt to have the subpoenas quashed, most legal experts say courts will rule in favor of AG James because she’s investigating possible criminal behavior.

James also made it clear that all the stonewalling in the world won’t keep her from moving forward, sending out this tweet aimed directly at Don Jr. and Ivanka:

Sounds like Junior and Vanky had better start prepping for their depositions, and they’d better make damn sure they don’t lie under oath.

 

Categories
Crime Donald Trump

New York AG Letitia James Investigating Trump For $21 Million In Tax Fraud: Report

Subpoenas filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James suggest that former President Donald Trump may have committed tax fraud totaling over $21 million for a property he owns in Westchester County, New York, known as the Seven Springs Estate.

The Daily Beast has seen the subpoenas and reports that the Trump Organization may have fraudulently adjusted the value of a conservation easement for the Seven Springs property, taking a $21.1 million tax deduction in 2015 for the easement:

“Investigators asked for a trove of documents related to Donald Trump’s failed attempts to develop a luxury golf course on a 212-acre, forested estate that spans across those three towns and includes several mansions.”

The towns where the Trump property is located — Bedford, New Castle, and North Castle — handed over the documents requested by investigators in the subpoena.

James isn’t the only legal authority on the trail of the easement Trump took in 2015 for the Seven Springs property. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. also asked for information related to the matter, according to The Daily Beast’s report. Specifically, Vance subpoenaed “items like planning board meeting minutes, which would help show whether Trump ever really stood a chance at building on the land, and they sought records dating back more than 15 years in some cases.”

All of this comes on the heels of a report from the Washington Post earlier this week which revealed that Vance has already empaneled a grand jury in Manhattan for the specific purpose of issuing indictments for crimes that may have been committed by Trump and his company. Since Vance is retiring at the end of the year, most legal experts believe the Manhattan grand jury is on the verge of handing down indictments against Trump, his three eldest children, and other top officers of the Trump Organization.

Whatever happens in the months ahead, it seems the Seven Springs estate will play a major role in any charges are brought against the former president.