Tag: Trump Organization

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Crime Donald Trump Jr. Eric Trump The Trump Organization

Don Jr. And Eric Gave Trump Org. CFO A $200K Raise After They Discovered He Was Cooking The Books

Allen Weisselberg, the former CFO of the Trump Organization, said said under oath Friday that Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump knew he was engaging in tax fraud on behalf of the company yet gave him a $200,000 a year raise after they found out about his crimes.

The New York Post reports that Don Jr. and Eric discovered Weisselberg’s illegal actions in 2017. Specifically, he and two other top Trump Org. executives were getting perks they didn’t report as income on their taxes, but the ex-president’s sons weren’t upset by the discovery.

The sons learned of the tax cheating during a “cleanup process” the company underwent with tax auditors when Trump took office as president, Weisselberg said.

When prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked the longtime chief financial officer if the Trump Org. demoted or punished him in light of the discovery, he said no.

“Were you in fact given a raise … that totaled approximately $200,000?” Hoffinger asked.

“Correct,” Weisselberg replied on his final day of testimony.

Weisselberg pleaded guilty in August of accepting $1.7 million worth of unreported benefits that included free rent on an expensive apartment on the Upper West Side, luxury cars, and private school tuition payments for his grandchildren.

The Trump Organization is accused of helping Weisselberg and other top managers cheat on their taxes for 15 years by falsifying reports to the government.

Today’s revelations come as Trump, his children, and his company are facing massive civil penalties in a case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. If Trump Org. is found guilty in that case, the company could face massive financial penalties and the imposition of a economic “death penalty” that prohibit them from ever doing business in the state of New York again. Trump Org. is headquartered in the Empire State even though the failed former president now lives in Palm Beach, Florida, at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

The one-term, twice-impeached ex-president it also facing the prospect of being charged under the Espionage Act for hoarding classified documents at Mar-a-Lago in violation of federal law.

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Crime Donald Trump The Trump Organization

NY Says Trump Inflated Value Of Mar-a-Lago By 10x – That Could Mean Seizure Of The Resort

When New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that she was filing a civil lawsuit against Donald Trump, his three eldest children, and the Trump Organization for fraud, one of the things she mentioned as an example of the alleged fraud committed involved the ex-president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

The Washington Post reports:

The lawsuit, filed in New York Supreme Court, is the result of a more than two-year investigation by James and names 23 properties in the Trump Organization portfolio, including his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida, his Seven Springs estate in Westchester County, N.Y., and the D.C. hotel he leased from the federal government until he sold it in May.

“The inflated asset valuations in the Statements cannot be brushed aside or excused as merely the result of exaggeration or good faith estimation about which reasonable real estate professionals may differ,” it says.

Here’s how James explained the way Trump overvalued Mar-a-Lago:

And the suit says Trump valued his Mar-a-Lago club property in Palm Beach, Florida, on the false premise that it sat on unrestricted property and could be developed for residential use, even though he allegedly knew that asset was subject to a slew of tight restrictions.

Mar-a-Lago “generated less than $25 million in annual revenue,” James said. “It should have been valued at about $75 million, but it was valued at $739 million.”

But the real danger for Trump, his family, and his company is that James has a weapon at her disposal that would allow her to impose what’s know as the “corporate death penalty” in the Empire State, as was first reported by Business Insider last month:

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.’

In the coming months, James will be turning up the heat on the Trumps. And by the time she’s finished, the Trump Organization could be nothing but a bad memory.

 

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Crime Donald Trump The Trump Organization

Millions Of Tax Documents Uncovered In The Financial Fraud Case Against Trump

Remember Allen Weisselberg? He’s the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization who was charged with several crimes by Manhattan prosecutors in July, including tax fraud and grand larceny.

And now we learn that over 3 million financial and tax documents have been unearthed in the basement of one of Weisselberg’s co-conspirators, according to a report from CNN:

(Bryan) Skarlatos, an attorney for Weisselberg, referenced a dispute between the Manhattan district attorney’s office and Trump Organization lawyers, saying, he is “concerned” that his client “becomes collateral damage in a bigger fight” between the two.

Holding up a manila envelope with a bulge in it, Skarlatos, said that the parties met in the judge chambers, before the court hearing. “It was represented to us by the [district attorney’s office] that this package includes documents found in a co-conspirator’s basement that are tax documents,” Skarlatos said.

Skarlatos did not identify the co-conspirator by name. CNN has reported that one alleged co-conspirator in the investigation is Jeff McConney, the controller of the Trump Organization. McConney has testified at least twice before the grand jury, in which he received immunity for his testimony.

However, the co-conspirator could be anyone with knowledge of the financial dealings of the Trump Organization, including former President Donald Trump and members of his family.

Attorneys also said in court Monday that they expect more indictments to be handed down soon:

“We have strong reason to believe there could be other indictments coming,” Bryan Skarlatos said at a pre-trial hearing in New York State Supreme Court.

Prosecutors are trying to get Weisselberg and other members of the Trump Organization to cooperate with their investigation and provide testimony against the former president and other high-ranking officials of the company.

The Trump Organization is a family-owned and controlled corporation, with the ex-president at the head of the company and his two oldest sons, Donald Jr. and Eric serving as executive vice presidents. Ivanka Trump has also been involved in the business over the years and could be facing legal exposure if she played a role in any criminal activities.

 

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Crime Donald Trump

Judge Rules Massive ‘Pyramid Scheme’ Lawsuit Against The Trump Family Can Move Forward

A federal judge has dealt a major blow to Donald Trump, his family, and the Trump Corporation by refusing to stay a massive lawsuit that accuses the Trumps of running a pyramid scheme that allegedly bilked investors out of millions of dollars. Those investors are now seeking a large settlement that could possibly endanger the already shaky financial situation of the family-held company.


According to Law and Crime:

“The complicated and anonymous class action lawsuit, filed by a Jane Doe and others, resulted in motions to stay the proceedings and interlocutory appeals by the Trumps, the Trump Corporation, and a third party called ACN Opportunity, LLC. ACN was ordered to produce documents relevant to the claims. Interlocutory appeals are appeals to higher courts filed in the midst, rather than at the conclusion, of lower court litigation.

“The judge, Lorna G. Schofield, a Barack Obama appointee, said the lawsuit would not be put on hold.”


Judge Schofield’s ruling is also problematic for Trump because it threatens to expose many of his shady business practices as part of the lawsuit and could also result in his three eldest children — Don Jr., Ivanka, and Eric — having to give depositions and appear in open court as part of the lawsuit.

The suit, which is a class action filing, accuses the Trump family and their business of promoting a multi-level marketing — aka pyramid — scheme, which was known as the ACN Opportunity, LLC:

“ACN, the plaintiffs said, was a ‘get-rich-quick scheme’ that relied on Trump and his family ‘conn[ing] each of these victims into giving up hundreds or thousands of dollars,’ in violation of various state laws.”


Conning and grifting are the only two enterprises Trump and his spawn have ever excelled at. When they’re unable to do so, they wind up filing for bankruptcy and moving on to another con job.

The Trumps had attempted to force the suit into arbitration so that discovery could be kept secret. Additionally, there are reportedly recordings of Donald Trump that will be introduced as evidence in the ACN lawsuit. Those alone could wind up being humiliating for the president and others in his orbit.

For now, the case moves forward, and facts will be coming out left and right. That alone is reason for Donald Trump to be worried. As we know, he’s never been a fan of facts or the truth.