Tag: The Trump Organization

Categories
Business Crime Donald Trump The Trump Organization

Michael Cohen: New York Fraud Ruling Leaves Trump Financially F**ked

 

Michael Cohen served for years as a personal attorney and fixer for failed ex-president Donald Trump, and he’s warning that a summary judgement handed down Tuesday by a New York judge against Trump and the Trump Organization means the Donald’s financial house of cards is on the verge of total collapse.

Cohen was a guest on CNN, and host Kaitlan Collins asked if Trump can pay the $250 million judgement, which will likely be closer to $600 million with interest and penalties. Cohen responded, “No.”

“So all of those assets will end up going into some form of receivership,” Cohen added. “As a result of the receivership, those companies will end up being liquidated, especially now that this case is no longer solely about… liability. The judge has already determined that the fraud existed.”

Cohen also noted, “If you want to get to Donald, the way to do it is through his bank book. It’s not by saying he’s a narcissistic sociopath or that he’s definitely not 6’3″ and he’s not 215 pounds; you go after the wallet.”

“Once you start hitting that bank book, that’s what really gets to him.”

Asked about Trump’s claim that the brand name is worth more than the judge realizes, Cohen had this to say:

“When it comes to the value of the brand, sure, there’s a value of the brand. What’s the value of the brand now? Obviously significantly less. But if you’re talking about the asset, what does the brand value have to do with over-inflating the square footage of your primary residence by triple on Fifth Avenue to 33,000 square feet when the unit is actually 11,000 square feet.”

Here’s the ugly bottom line for Donald Trump and the Trump Organization: They’re screwed. Donnie is about to be broke, and it should be fun to see how long his attorneys continue to defend him when he can no longer pay their fees.

 

Categories
Crime Donald Trump Greed The Trump Organization

NY Judge Rules Trump Organization Committed Massive Fraud – Could Be Death Knell For Donald’s Company

A New York judge ruled today that failed former president Donald Trump and his company, the Trump Organization, committed massive and systematic fraud for years and should be held accountable.

According to the Associated Press, “Judge Arthur Engoron, ruling Tuesday in a civil lawsuit brought by New York’s attorney general, found that the former president and his company deceived banks, insurers and others by massively overvaluing his assets and exaggerating his net worth on paperwork used in making deals and securing financing.”

Engoron’s ruling comes just days before a non-jury civil trial brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James is set to begin and suggests that the ex-president’s company could be in serious trouble moving forward.

James is asking the court to impose $250 million in penalties and bar the Trump Organization from doing business in the Empire State, which would be a devastating blow to a company that is believed to be financially strapped and teetering on the brink of collapse, according to some reports.

For years, Trump has reportedly lied about his success as a businessman, but today’s summary judgement goes far beyond claims of mere exaggeration, as the former president and top Trump Organization executives have now been found liable of forging financial documents to gain increased loans from banks and reduced tax rates.

Today’s ruling also gives James leverage if she decides to seek what’s known as the “corporate death penalty,” a move that would dissolve the Trump Organization entirely and lead to the seizure of assets owned by the company.

Should Trump be unable to pay a massive fine, James could also seek to have some of his properties sold off in order to compensate the state for the fraud.

After the verdict was handed down, Trump took to another of his failing properties, Truth Social, to whine:

Translation: Donnie’s pissed off he got caught and now he wants us all to feel sorry for him.

 

Categories
Crime Donald Trump The Trump Organization

Trump Organization Facing Legal ‘Death Penalty’ From New York Attorney General

Now that she has concrete evidence that Donald Trump and the Trump Organization have been engaged in systematic financial fraud, New York Attorney General Letitia James may be on the verge of imposing the legal “death penalty” on the ex-president’s corporation, according to a former U.S. Attorney.

Joyce Vance, who served as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama from 2009 to 2017, was a guest on MSNBC, and she was asked by host Chris Jansing about news that Trump’s former accounting firm, Mazars, has dropped him as a client and declared that his financial statements cannot be trusted:

“So Joyce, let me go to the Trump Organization statement, which is that, ‘this confirmation effectively rendered the investigation by the [Manhattan] DA and the AG. moot.’ Does it?”

Vance replied:

“It absolutely doesn’t, Chris, and one of the intriguing issues here is how did New York’s attorney general come into possession of this letter, which was sent from Trump’s accountant to the Trump Organization? She’s not cc’d on the letter; your accounting firm doesn’t typically send business correspondence to the attorney general in your state.”

Vance added:

“So there’s a suggestion here that Mazars is engaged with the New York attorney general. This whole issue came up as [NY AG] Letitia James was trying to take the depositions of Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump, and she’s been forced to justify that position by the Trump folks in the course of that litigation and this document has come out now.”

And then Vance explained how AG James can put a quick end to the Trump Organization:

“Details of other transactions that are highly questionable, and that may be sharp business practices or fraud, but James is likely to get her depositions, and she, of course, has jurisdiction under New York’s Martin Act to protect New York from sharp business practices. she has the authority to curtail businesses’ ability to operate, and even as she did with Trump’s charitable fund, to no longer permit them to operate in the state of New York. So the consequences here, just on the civil side, could be dramatic. The criminal investigation will proceed at its own pace.”

What is the Martin Act? It’s a piece of legislation passed in 1921 that is considered to be the “most severe blue sky law” in the country:

The Martin Act, as interpreted by New York courts, gives the New York State Attorney General exceptionally broad enforcement authority to bring both civil and criminal action without a showing of scienter or intent to defraud.

One of the penalties under the Martin Act is the complete shutdown of a business and forfeiture of its assets. That’s why it’s considered a legal “death penalty” if imposed.

Here’s hoping Letitia James does indeed shut down Trump Org. and then proceed to lock up every member of the company who was involved in this widespread fraud.

 

Categories
Business Crime

New York AG Has The Option Of Imposing ‘Corporate Death’ On Trump Organization

Letitia James is the Attorney General for the state of New York, and that makes her one of the most powerful prosecutors in the country, especially since she’s making it clear that she intends to “use every area of the law” as she investigates the president, his family, and his business, as NBC News has reported:

“New York law allows the attorney general to seek restitution and damages — and, in extreme cases, dissolution — if a business is found to have engaged in persistent fraud. There’s also the Martin Act, a 1921 statute designed to protect investors.

“Past attorneys general have used the Martin Act, considered to be the U.S.’s toughest such state statute in this realm, to expand their powers in the financial crimes sector. The law empowers the attorney general to subpoena witnesses and documents for information pertaining to possible fraud.”

 


As many crimes as the Trump Organization is suspected of having committed (Trump University was just the tip of the iceberg, experts say), AG James could use a legal sledgehammer as she goes about bringing charges against the president’s company, which just so happens to be run by his two eldest sons, Don Jr. and Eric. And that could prove especially catastrophic for the Trump business empire. The power wielded by James under the laws of New York could even be used for a “judgment of corporate death” if she chooses to seek the total dismantling Trump’s holdings in real estate and other businesses.

 


The New York AG has already signaled the direction she plans to pursue, at least initially, having subpoenaed banks that do business with Trump as a way of seeing inside the Trump Organization and Trump’s bank accounts.

Something James told MSNBC host Ari Melber should be of special concern to the president and anyone with connections to the Trump Organization:

“Most of (Trump’s) business activities are performed in New York, he engages in business in New York, he operates in New York and it’s really critically important that New Yorkers as taxpayers — it’s really critically important that we understand and know whether or not he devalued his corporations and he received some tax benefits thereof, that he engaged in false claims against New Yorkers.”

 


Letitia James is going after Trump on numerous fronts. But it’s her investigation of the Trump Organization that could well pose the greatest legal danger to him.

 

Categories
Donald Trump Donald Trump Jr. Eric Trump

Trump Preparing To Toss Don Jr. And Eric To The Wolves In Last-Ditch Effort To Save Himself: Report

Now that he’s facing the possibility that the Trump Organization will be taken away from him by authorities in the state of New York, which would also likely result in a complete dismantling of the company and fire sale of its assets, failed former president Donald Trump is ready to toss even his closest relatives under the proverbial bus in an effort to salvage what he can, according to Trump biographer David Kay Johnston.

During a discussion of the case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James against the disgraced ex-president and his company on Thursday afternoon on “Deadline: White House,” host Nicolle Wallace referenced a deposition given by Trump in which he claimed, “I was very busy. I was, I considered this the most important job in the world, saving millions of lives.”

That led Wallace to note, “He’s throwing his sons under the bus,” she said. “Talk about the family dynamic and the risk to the Trump kids.”

Johnston concurred: “Remember that Donald put this in an eyes-wide-open trust.”

“He asserted he could run his company and be president and there would be no conflicts of interest, which is absurd,” Johnston added. “What he’s doing is what he always does: He’s trying to shift responsibility onto other people, and Donald won’t have any problem shifting responsibility onto his sons, who he has told others he thinks are idiots. He doesn’t say that in public, but he’s told people he doesn’t have much regard for the judgment of his two older sons. Talking about the adult sons here.”

Wallace then turned to advertising and public relations expert Donny Deutsch, who was once friends with Trump, telling him that the former president has been much kinder when it comes to things he says about Ivanka, whom he as showered with compliments.

That led Deutsch to note:

“Just a little peek into Donald Trump’s humanity. Any of us who are parents, at the end of the day, you would throw yourself in front of a bus for your kids and Donald is the opposite. Anyone who knows Donald would say the same thing. He would throw his kids under the bus. Does Ivanka live in a different space? She lives in an entirely weird different space, but this is a guy who would not put his children in front of him.”

Ask yourself this question based on what we know about Donald Trump: Is there anyone he wouldn’t toss under the nearest bus in order to avoid financial collapse and/or serving time in prison?

The answer, of course, is no. He will sacrifice anyone to save his own ass. That’s what a narcissist does.