Tag: The Trump Organization

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Business Donald Trump The Trump Organization

Trump Org’s Failure To File Financial Documents Suggests The Company Is Collapsing: Report

Something much stranger than usual it taking place these days at the Trump Organization, which is owned and run by the failed former president and his three oldest children, Don Jr., Ivanka, and Eric.

According to The Daily Beast, even though it’s March and Trump Org. is supposed to have already filed financial documents with a court-appointed overseer, the company has “…not provided a 2022 statement of financial condition to any third parties, and do not intend to do so.”

The disclosure about how the Trumps haven’t made any financial statements to banks or accounting firms was made in a Feb. 3 letter written by a retired judge tasked with babysitting the Trumps’ real estate empire, in a document that was made public in court filings last week.

The Trumps “have not provided a 2022 statement of financial condition to any third parties, and do not intend to do so,” Barbara S. Jones, a former federal judge now in private practice, wrote to the state judge who appointed her.

What does that mean for the company? One of three things:

  • Trump Org. has fallen on hard financial times
  • The company has found a bank willing to do business despite a lack of financial transparency
  • The Trump Organization is lying

These are just any documents, either. They are a “statement of financial condition is a sensitive legal document that serves as a summary of a company’s assets and liabilities. But notably, it must also include disclosures describing how the numbers were put together.”

In other words, this isn’t something you don’t just blow off and still stay in business, mainly because no one wants to deal with such a secretive company that could well be on the verge of collapse.

New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a civil suit against the Trump Organization that is scheduled to go to trial in October. The disgraced ex-president is attempting to delay the trial and his daughter, Ivanka, has made recent court filings in which she claims she had no idea any illegal activity was taking place inside the company, a clear sign that she is is trying to distance herself from her father and his possibly illegal actions.

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Crime Donald Trump Ivanka Trump The Trump Organization

Court Filing: Ivanka Tosses Daddy Under The Bus In New York Fraud Case

Perhaps hoping to avoid being thrown overboard by her father and others in the Trump Organization, Ivanka Trump is now making it clear in court filings that she intends to point the finger the failed former president in an effort to save her own skin.

A lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James accuses the Trump Organization and its top corporate officers — one of whom just so happens to be Ivanka — of bank and tax fraud and seeks civil penalties against the company and those in charge of it.

Now, however, Ivanka is asserting through her attorneys that she had nothing to do with any fraud and that “other individuals were responsible for those tasks.”

Erik Larson of Bloomberg reported on the filing from Ivanka’s attorneys.

NEW: Ivanka Trump joined her father and brothers in asking a judge to delay the Oct. 2 trial of NY’s fraud suit. Her lawyer said the case “is not simple” and that Ivanka has a “unique” defense because she left Trump Org. in 2017 and isn’t accused of lying about her dad’s finances

“The Complaint does not contain a single allegation that Ms. Trump directly or indirectly created, prepared, reviewed, or certified any of her father’s financial statements,” her lawyer said in a filing. The suit alleges “that other individuals were responsible for those tasks”

AG James believes that Donald Trump and the Trump Organization committed at least $21 million in tax fraud. She is seeking financial penalties against the company and to ban it from doing business in the state of New York ever again, a form of corporate death penalty that can be used by the state in extreme cases of bad behavior by a corporate entity.

The Trump Organization is headquartered in the Empire State and would likely be destroyed if James is successful with her lawsuit.

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Crime Donald Trump The Trump Organization

New York Tax Fraud Lawsuit Will Probably Cost Trump $700 Million

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 Wednesday morning, 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.”

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.

 

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Crime Donald Trump

WATCH Trump Plead The Fifth OVER 400 TIMES During Deposition In New York Fraud Case

As part of a fraud investigation conducted by New York Attorney General Letitia James, disgraced one-term, twice-impeached former president Donald Trump was forced to sit for a deposition last summer.

Video of that deposition has now been obtained by CBS News, which released portions of it.

According to CBS:

“This is the greatest witch hunt in the history of our country.” He called James “a renegade and out of control prosecutor” and accused her of having political motives for her office’s investigation into his financial practices.

Just over a month later, on Sept. 21, James announced her office’s lawsuit against Trump, three of his children and his company, accusing them of a long-running scheme to inflate the value of their properties. The Trumps have denied wrongdoing.

“This whole thing is very unfair,” Trump says in the deposition video.

“Anyone in my position not taking the Fifth Amendment would be a fool, an absolute fool,” Trump said, adding that on the advice of counsel, “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.”

While Trump did indeed have a right to cite the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination, doing so can be used against him in civil litigation like the case being pursued by James. Jurors are allowed to consider such evidence in civil cases. Assertions of the Fifth Amendment by defendants cannot be brought up in criminal cases.

At a 2016 campaign rally, Trump attacked aides working for his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, after they pled the Fifth:

“So there are five people taking the Fifth Amendment, like you see on the mob, right? You see the mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?”

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Crime Donald Trump The Trump Organization

Trump’s Attorneys Claim The Trump Organization Can’t Be Sued Because It Doesn’t Actually Exist

In a desperate, last-ditch effort to try and get around a $250 million fraud lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James, attorneys for failed former president Donald Trump asserted in a Thursday evening filing that the Trump Organization cannot be sued because it actually isn’t a legal entity.

Business Insider reports that the filing reads like a “nose-thumbing response” to the lawsuit from James.

“To the extent a response is required, Defendant specifically denies the definitions of “Trump Organization” and “Defendants,” reads Donald Trump’s response to the lawsuit, one of 16 answers filed late Thursday night.

“While the shorthand “Trump Organization” is utilized by Defendants for branding and business purposes, no entity as such exists for legal purposes,” Donald Trump’s response continues, using language that is repeated throughout his 300-page filing and throughout the similarly-lengthy 15 filings of his fellow defendants.

While the strategy is creative, it’s not likely to work because the lawsuit doesn’t seek to charge the Trump Organization.

New York’s lawsuit does not specifically sue anything called ‘Trump Organization.’ New York’s lawsuit names Donald Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, former company CFO Allen Weisselberg and its former payroll executive Jeffrey McConney. It also names 10 entities under the Trump Organization umbrella — including ‘The Trump Organization, Inc.,’ a registered corporation in New York since 1981.

The filing also contains repeated denials that the Trump Organization has done anything illegal, despite overwhelming evidence already provided by James that suggests otherwise and has already led to a judgement against the company.

Thursday night’s batch of responses briefly address these claims, repeating such blanket denials as “Defendant has not engaged in repeated fraudulent or illegal acts or otherwise demonstrated persistent fraud or illegality in the carrying on, conducting or transacting of business.”

James’ lawsuit would permanently ban the disgraced ex-president, Don Jr., Ivanka, and Eric Trump from ever doing business in New York, which is where the company is headquartered and a majority of Trump properties are located.

A trial in the matter is set for October in Manhattan.