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Crime Donald Trump

Former Watergate Prosecutor Explains Why Trump Could Be Found Guilty Of Tax Fraud In Manhattan

While failed former president Donald Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury for hush money payments he allegedly made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in violation of New York campaign finance laws, he could also wind up being convicted of tax fraud, according to former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman during an appearance on CNN Monday.

Host Jake Tapper asked Akerman about a tweet he had posted earlier in the day.

“You tweeted that, quote, ‘If former President Richard Nixon had been held accountable for his actions arising out of the Watergate investigation, no one now would be saying an indictment of Trump is unprecedented,'” Tapper noted. “Given what we know about these allegations of business fraud against Trump, presuming that our understanding of the case, that it is the combination of the business fraud with the alleged campaign finance violations, do you think this particular indictment is as serious as what Nixon might have faced before Gerald Ford pardoned him?”

“Well, one of the things that Richard Nixon was facing prior to pardon was being indicted for tax violations,” Akerman explained. “And in fact, this indictment could also hinge on tax violations.”

Akerman added:

“Everybody keeps saying campaign violations, but the fact of the matter is when you create phony business records that claimed that there were legitimate attorney’s fees being paid, and deducted on the company’s books and records, that then land up on a New York State tax return, we’re talking tax fraud.”

A few seconds later, Akerman told Tapper, “It’s not much different than what Nixon did in donating his papers to the Archives after and using a backdated deed to get a deduction that was totally illegitimate.”

Akerman also noted that “we don’t really know what the full scope of the allegations are here,” which led him to remark, “You mentioned before that we have an idea of the list of grand jury witnesses. We do only as the people who personally appeared. Keep in mind that this was a joint investigation between the D.A.’s office and the attorney general’s office, and there were a number of people who testified in depositions whose testimony could simply be read to the grand jury without having to appear personally.”

The former Watergate prosecutor concluded:

“All of that leads me to believe we just don’t know what this indictment is going to allege, particularly in light of the fact that Donald Trump asserted his Fifth Amendment privilege in response to 450 questions, claiming that a truthful answer would tend to incriminate him. It’s hard to believe that the district attorney’s office doesn’t have enough evidence, and some of those crimes ought to put into this indictment.”

The penalty for tax fraud in New York is three to 25 years.

Here’s the video from CNN:

Categories
Crime Donald Trump The Trump Organization

New York Tax Fraud Lawsuit Likely To Cost Trump $700 Million: Report

The civil fraud lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James against disgraced former president Donald Trump and the Trump Organization is likely to cost the ex-president $700 million in fines, according to an attorney who used to work for Trump.

Michael Cohen was a guest on CNN, and he told host Don Lemon:

“I do believe that he will see repercussions for the first time in almost his entire life. We’ve seen quite a few cases now, whether it’s [Trump Organization CFO Allen] Weisselberg’s incarceration, whether it’s the 17 counts against the Trump Organization, and now with the attorney general’s case, I think we’re going to see a lot of repercussion to Donald Trump.”

Lemon asked Cohen to elaborate on what he believes will be the final result of the New York fraud suit. He replied:

“I think it will be more in the neighborhood of $700 million (in fines), based upon at least the information that I know.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAiBAHGzT-4

On Tuesday, video of a deposition Trump gave in the New York tax fraud lawsuit was released. In it, the failed, one-term, twice-impeached former president asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 400 times, angrily denouncing the fraud investigation:

“This whole thing is very unfair.

“Anyone in my position not taking the Fifth Amendment would be a fool, an absolute fool. I respectfully decline to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution.

“This will be my answer to any further questions.”

Attorney General James is also seeking to impose the corporate death penalty on the Trump Organization and ban the company from ever doing business in the state in the future. Such a move would likely result in the complete dissolution of the company, which is jointly run by the former president and his three eldest children, Don Jr., Ivanka, and Eric.

 

Categories
Crime Donald Trump Taxation

Trump’s Tax Returns Show At Least 26 Instances Of Fraud That He Can Be Prosecuted For

Now that we have six years of former president Donald Trump’s tax returns, experts say he should be very worried about upcoming criminal charges against him on multiple counts of tax fraud.

The returns show that Trump and his company, the Trump Organization, have been taking advantage of massive tax breaks that he vigorously lobbied Congress for over the decades.

David Cay Johnston, author of “The Big Cheat: How Donald Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His Family,” said Friday during an appearance on CNN that one thing stood out to him upon initial inspection of Trump’s tax returns from the years 2015 to 2020:

“They don’t show he’s successful at all.”

Johnston then elaborated:

“They clearly show that he took advantage of every lawful method of tax avoidance including ones he lobbied Congress for in 1992, successfully lobbied them for, that were enormously beneficial to him but also show at a minimum 26 examples of where Donald crossed the line. and engaged in what I believe can be prosecuted as criminal tax fraud.”

Asked for specifics, Johnston explained:

“Donald in 1984 filed tax returns that showed businesses — a business with zero revenue and $600,000 of expenses, while the city of New York and the state of New York, after trials Donald demanded, the judges held these were civil tax fraud. Well, that put him on notice he can’t do that. He did it 26 times over the six years and that is powerful evidence of criminal intent, he knew he shouldn’t do it, he did it anyway.

“And why did he get away with it? Well, being in control of the federal government, he blocked the turning over of his tax returns, he blocked the audits that are required by law and for years he didn’t receive any serious mention from the IRS auditors.”

Categories
Crime Donald Trump Taxation

Trump’s Tax Returns Suggest He May Have Committed Tens Of Millions In Fraud

The House Ways and Means Committee voted Tuesday to release one-term, twice-impeached former president Donald Trump’s tax returns, a move that he has been trying to prevent for years.

CNN reports:

The committee also released a report Tuesday that detailed six years’ worth of the former president’s tax returns, including his claims of massive annual losses that significantly reduced his tax burden.

Chairman Richard Neal and fellow Democrats said Tuesday that the records they obtained showed that the presidential audit program failed to work as intended. The Massachusetts Democrat charged that the required audit of Trump’s taxes “did not occur,” as his returns were only subjected to the mandatory audit once, in 2019, after Democrats inquired.

“The research that was done as it relates to the mandatory audit program was nonexistent,” Neal told reporters after the committee hearing.

Even though the full returns haven’t yet been made public, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), said Tuesday evening on CNN that Trump had tens of millions of dollars in questionable deductions that suggest massive tax fraud, telling host Erin Burnett:

“I think you will see tens of millions of dollars in these returns that were claimed without adequate substantiation. The extent to which the IRS made an effort to get that substantiation, I invite you to look at the reports. But I think you’ll be surprised by how little there is, and I have my doubts that another taxpayer could go into audit and provide as little as was provided here and expect to have a completed audit.”

Doggett’s comments were echoed by Trump biographer Tim O’Brien in a column he wrote for Bloomberg.

What a fine mess he has gotten himself into. There are certainly more surprises to come, but a pair of summaries of the House Ways and Means Committee’s analysis of Trump’s personal and business tax records from 2015 through 2020 contained interesting revelations that will trouble the former president and certainly draw the attention of prosecutors.

O’Brien said of special interest are the deductions Trump took to reduce his taxable income:

“The records question the validity of about $300 million in tax deductions claimed by a skein of Trump holding companies for such write-offs as charitable giving, operating losses and business expenses. Both reports speculate that about $51,000 was given to his three eldest children as gifts, but may have been disguised as loans to avoid tax payments.

“As more information about his finances surfaces in coming days, it will be a reminder of the extent to which the former president played a shell game with his wealth and business interests while in power — and what he might try to get away with again if he occupies the Oval Office in the future.”

As long suspected, the reason Trump never voluntarily released his tax returns is because they contain detailed information about his financial crimes and who he does business with.

Categories
Crime Donald Trump The Trump Organization

Trump Organization Found Guilty On 17 Counts Of Tax Fraud In New York

A jury in New York has found the Trump Organization guilty on 17 counts of tax fraud and falsifying records, the first conviction of the failed ex-president’s company since he left office in disgrace.

NBC News reports the jury deliberated for a little more than a day before handing down the verdict, which could result in stiff fines for Trump Org. and could also open the door for other prosecutors who are investigating possible criminal behavior by the one-term, twice-impeached former president.

The Trump Organization and Allen Weisselberg, its former longtime chief financial officer, were indicted last year after a multi-year investigation into the company’s financial practices by the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

Prosecutors alleged that two corporations that are a part of the company, Trump Corp. and Trump Payroll Corp., paid their “already highly paid executives,” including Weisselberg, even more by “cheating on their taxes” through a series of schemes that included off-the-books perks like luxury cars and free apartments.

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