Tag: The Trump Organization

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Corruption Crime Donald Trump

Manhattan DA May Also File State Racketeering Charges Against The Trump Organization

Now that Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. has indicted the Trump Organization and Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, it’s clearer than ever that the justice system is starting to catch up with Donald Trump and those associated with him.

And now there’s a new twist to the case against Trump, with legal experts saying that Vance’s office may be planning to file state racketeering charges against the Trump Organization, which would give them more leverage over potential witnesses and also lead to greater penalties for those who are convicted, Politico reports:

“Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance could be considering a criminal charge that former President Donald Trump’s business empire was a corrupt enterprise under a New York law resembling the federal racketeering statute known as RICO, former prosecutors and defense attorneys said.

New York’s enterprise corruption statute — which carries the potential for severe penalties — can be applied to money-making businesses alleged to have repeatedly engaged in criminal activity as a way to boost their bottom line.”

New York’s organized corruption statute, which is often referred to as “little RICO,” can be used if there are as few as three crimes involving a business located in the Empire State and carries a prison term of up to 25 years, which would be a death sentence for Donald Trump, who turns 75 next month.

Manhattan defense attorney Robert Anello said he’s certain Vance is considering bringing charges under the New York RICO law:

“I’m sure they’re thinking about that. No self-respecting state white-collar prosecutor would forgo considering the enterprise corruption charge.”

Anello’s comments were echoed by Michael Shapiro, who used to prosecute corruption cases in New York:

“It’s a very serious crime. Certainly, there are plenty of things an organization or business could do to run afoul of enterprise corruption, if they’re all done with the purpose of enhancing the revenue of the enterprise illegally. … It’s an umbrella everything else fits under.”

The crimes the former president’s company is suspected of having committed include submitting inflated real estate valuations to banks and insurance companies while reporting those same properties as undervalued when it came time to pay taxes. There have also been rumors that Trump may have used his corporation to launder ill-gotten funds from organized crime outfits in the United States and Russia.

Also under investigation by the Manhattan DA’s office are the hush money payments made during the 2016 campaign to two women who had sexual encounters with Trump and were paid in order to remain silent. Those payoffs, according to legal experts, may well violate New York laws against making false statements as part of a company’s business records.

As for the newly formed grand jury, attorneys say it is almost certain to go along with whatever charges Vance is seeking against Trump and his company, with Shapiro noting:

“The prosecutors work together with the grand jury, day to day. … The natural thing that happens is everyone gets the idea we’re all on the same team. Ultimately, the grand jury will do what the prosecutors asks them to do. … If at the end of a number of months, this grand jury is asked to bring charges against Trump and others, they’ll do it — 999 times out of 1,000 they do it.”

In other words, the likelihood that Trump and others in his orbit are going to be indicted is all but certain.

 

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Corruption Crime Donald Trump Ivanka Trump

Sworn Deposition Shows Ivanka Lied Under Oath

When she was asked under oath in a sworn deposition she gave regarding possibly illegal fundraising and spending by the 2017 Trump inaugural, Ivanka Trump appears to have lied about her knowledge of how her father’s company, the Trump Organization, was run, and who was in charge of the day-to-day operations of the corporation.

Lying during a deposition is a crime. Just the same as testimony in court while under oath, lying as part of a deposition is also considered perjury.

The possible lies told by Ivanka were revealed by Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former close friend of Melania Trump who has soured on the Trumps since they attempted to blame her for the questionable finances of the Trump inaugural committee. Wolkoff posted this excerpt from Ivanka’s deposition on Twitter:

Allen Weisselberg has been the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization since the early 1970s and is considered to be the person who knows where every dollar of the company’s money is raised and spent.

Shortly after Wolkoff made her posting, Trump’s former personal attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen, responded with this:

Ivanka isn’t he first of the Trump children to get caught lying under oath. Her brother, Donald Trump Jr., also appears to have perjured himself, as Mother Jones first reported in April:

“During his deposition, Trump Jr. frequently replied, ‘I don’t recall,’ and he downplayed his involvement in preparation for his father’s inauguration in January 2017. In several exchanges, he made statements that are contradicted by documents or the recollections of others and that appear to be false.”

Don Jr’s. apparent lying was also regarding the 2017 Trump inaugural committee, which is believed to have personally enriched the Trump Organization by tens of millions of dollars, money that was diverted illegally to the Trump family in violation of federal and state law.

Perhaps the truest words ever said by a member of the Trump family were reportedly uttered by the failed, one-term former president, who raged that he wasn’t getting any of the money for the presidential transition:

“Fuck the law. I don’t give a fuck about the law. I want my fucking money.”

For a con man and grifter, it’s always about the fucking money. And it’s clear the Trump children inherited that grifting gene from their old man.

 

Categories
Business Donald Trump

Is The Trump Organization On The Verge Of Financial Collapse?

When he first announced he was running for president back in 2015, Donald Trump promised he’d run the United States the way he ran his business and every American would prosper as a result.

Six years later, however, the U.S. is in a deep economic recession and reeling from Trump’s failure to properly deal with the coronavirus pandemic, both of which led to him being consigned to history as a failed, one-term president.

And, six years later, the Trump Organization is quickly going broke, with CBS News reporting that four of Trump’s top money-earning properties in New York City are ailing financially:

“Last year marked the fifth year in a row in which the four most prominent Trump-owned buildings in Manhattan, including the Fifth Avenue Trump Tower made famous by ‘The Apprentice’ TV show, missed lenders’ earnings expectations, according to a CBS MoneyWatch review of publicly available documents. 

“Wells Fargo and other banks have told investors who have funded Trump’s loans that an income slump due in part to the ‘COVID-19 global pandemic‘ means the buildings might not generate enough cash to cover their mortgage payments, according to banker notes to investors reviewed by CBS MoneyWatch. ‘The loan is being monitored,’ said a note to investors in one CMBS deal tied to a Trump property from a unit of PNC Bank that services commercial mortgages.”

These latest developments regarding the Trump Organization are not unexpected. Last year, The Economic Times reported that Trump’s business was in big trouble:

“Like other hotels around the world, Trump’s have been forced to lay off most workers — and face the fact that the $435 million in revenues that the Trump Organization reported in 2018 is likely to plummet this year.”

Trump’s legal problems could also spell doom for his company, which is run by him and hit three eldest children, Don Jr., Ivanka, and Eric:

“Beyond the four buildings’ marketplace challenges, their financing could also pose a legal risk for Trump. New York City prosecutors have obtained millions of pages of Trump’s tax records and related correspondence as part of an ongoing criminal probe into his financial deals. Sources with knowledge of the investigation tell CBS News that prosecutors are reviewing financial documents involving the four Manhattan buildings. Subpoenas indicate the prosecutors are also scrutinizing at least one other Trump property in suburban Bedford, New York.”

The Trump Organization is about to go the way of the dinosaurs. Don’t be surprised if it collapses entirely within the next six months.

 

Categories
Business Donald Trump

Donald Trump’s ‘Fortune’ Is Disappearing – He Lost A Third Of His Total Net Worth Last Year

While he loves to brag about what a great businessman he is and how much money he has, a new report from Bloomberg makes it clear that the Trump “fortune” is dwindling by the day, with his total net worth plummeting by a third in 2020 alone.

Ironically, Trump’s own failures as president — the coronavirus pandemic and being associated with the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection — have been catastrophic to his bottom line:

“His financial disclosures and loan documents, interviews with former executives and industry analysts, and a host of legal fights and investigations reveal just how much trouble Trump and his company could face. Covid has been hard on office buildings key to his wealth and hotels and resorts that bear his name. The fallout from the Capitol assault has hurt his relationships with brokers and lenders. At least $590 million in loans come due in the next four years, more than half personally guaranteed by Trump, and his scrapyard of failed enterprises has only gotten more crowded.”

The foundation of the Trump Organization, commercial real estate, has been pummeled by the ongoing fears over COVID-19 which exist both in the United States and across the globe:

“No segment in Trump’s business world is as important as commercial real estate, which accounts for about three-quarters of his net worth. And few industries in the U.S. have been as hard hit over the past year, when workers disappeared from office towers and business districts became ghost towns. He’s facing a ‘triple whammy’ from Covid, the Capitol riot and an aging portfolio of properties, says Ruth Colp-Haber, who runs office consultant Wharton Property Advisors. ‘These are the businesses you don’t want to be in right now.'”

Even Trump Tower — seen by many as emblematic of Trump’s corporation — is suffering, with rents on Fifth Avenue where the tower is located plunging 32 percent over the past two years, which raises questions about whether Trump will ever be able to turn around the losses he’s currently seeing when he looks at his balance sheet.

In recent years, Trump has pivoted to licensing his name to properties and businesses in an effort to offset some of his losses in the real estate sector. But that line of revenue is also suffering badly:

“After the Capitol riot, Trump Plaza in Florida’s West Palm Beach voted to strip Trump’s name, and New York City is trying to pull his contracts to run ice rinks, a carousel and a golf course.”

And let’s not forget the plethora of legal landmines Trump and the Trump Organization are facing, especially in New York, where both the Manhattan D.A. and state attorney general suspect crimes ranging from bank, insurance, and fraud to money laundering, all of which could bankrupt the failed, one-term president and send him and his children to prison for decades.

Donald Trump probably thought his four years in the White House would be great for his company. Clearly, he was wrong, and clearly he is also one of the worst businessmen on the face of the planet.

 

Categories
Crime Donald Trump

Trump Organization Insider Is Cooperating With Prosecutors – Says She ‘Refuses To Be Silenced’

As prosecutors in New York continue to look into Donald Trump and the Trump Organization’s finances, one man has moved into the spotlight and could play a key role as investigators move forward and grand juries prepare to hand down indictments.

 

Allen Weisselberg has been Chief Financial Officer of the Trump Organization for decades, and reportedly “knows where all the bodies are buried.” Will Weisselberg try save his own hide and that of his two sons and cooperate with prosecutors? That remains to be seen, but a person close to him is indeed talking with investigators and is making it clear she won’t be silenced, Business Insider reports:

“An attorney representing the former daughter-in-law of the Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg says she’s cooperating with prosecutors conducting an inquiry into Donald Trump’s finances and ‘refuses to be silenced.’

“‘Jennifer Weisselberg is committed to speaking the truth, no matter how difficult that may be,’ her attorney, Duncan Levin, told Insider in a statement. ‘She will continue to cooperate fully with the various law enforcement agencies that are investigating her ex-husband’s family and the very powerful interests they represent.’

“‘Jennifer refuses to be silenced any longer by those who are conspiring to prevent her from sharing what she has learned over the past 25 years,’ Levin added.”

Weisselberg’s former daughter-in-law has certainly been in a prime position to know exactly what goes on inside the former president’s business dealings, as she was married to one of his sons, Barry, until 2018, when they divorced. And she also knows Donald Trump:

“The couple received an apartment as a gift from Trump when they married in 2004, but Barry Weisselberg may have skipped out on paying taxes on it by categorizing it incorrectly in his tax filings, according to Bloomberg News. That apartment — as well as other numerous financial entanglements between the Weisselberg and Trump families — appear to be at the center of the effort to flip Weisselberg into cooperating.”

How close could Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance be to filing criminal charges against Trump and his corporation? According to Daniel R. Alonso, a former top Vance deputy:

“I’m sure he is absolutely pressing to have a decision made on whether to prosecute anyone, whom to prosecute, and for what charges, by the end of the year.”

Everywhere he turns, Donald Trump can see his freedom slipping away. About the only option he has now is fleeing to a country that doesn’t have an extradition treaty with the United States. That list is limited, and only one nation — Russia — seems the least bit likely to be of interest to the Donald. Problem is, even Putin may not want anything to do with Donnie anymore.