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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.”

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Donald Trump Social Media Taxation

Trump Posts Threats As His Tax Returns Are Released: ‘Going To Lead To Horrible Things’

The House Ways and Means Committee released six years of failed former president Donald Trump’s tax returns this morning, and at first blush it certainly appears that the ex-president may well have manipulated the numbers to keep his tax burden low, including not paying a dime in taxes some years.

CNN reports that during the first and last years Trump was in the White House, he paid almost nothing in taxes.

The returns, long shrouded in secrecy, were released to the public on Friday by the House Ways and Means Committee, the culmination of a battle over their disclosure that went to the Supreme Court. They confirm a report issued from the Joint Committee on Taxation that Trump claimed large losses before and throughout his presidency that he carried forward to reduce or practically eliminate his tax burden. For example, his returns show that he carried forward a $105 million loss in 2015 and $73 million in 2016.

The committee also included an analysis of Trump’s tax returns, and it too raises all sorts of questions about how he and his company, the Trump Organization, managed to have such a miniscule tax liability.

Included with the committee’s report was an analysis of the numbers from each of the six Trump tax returns by the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation. Among the JCT’s findings, the then-president paid very little federal income tax in 2017 – just $750 – and nothing in 2020. The report also showed Trump paid a combined $1.1 million in federal income taxes in 2018 and 2019, a stark contrast to the $750 he paid in 2017 and $0 in 2020.

For many years, prior to his running for president, a New York Times investigation showed that Trump had claimed huge net operating losses that he was allowed to carry forward and apply to future tax years, which greatly reduced or simply wiped out his annual income tax liability.

For example, the JCT report noted that Trump carried forward $105 million in losses on his 2015 return, $73 million in 2016, $45 million in 2017 and $23 million in 2018.

Minutes after the tax returns were made public, Trump issued a statement via his spokesperson, Liz Harrington, which at times reads like a threat.

“The Democrats should have never done it, the Supreme Court should have never approved it, and it’s going to lead to horrible things for so many people. The great USA divide will now grow far worse. The radical, left Democrats have weaponized everything, but remember, that is a dangerous two-way street!”

There was also this:

“The ‘Trump’ tax returns once again show how proudly successful I have been and how I have been able to use depreciation and various other tax deductions as an incentive for creating thousands of jobs and magnificent structures and enterprises.”

He sounds furious and nervous. That alone tells you the tax returns contain evidence of criminal behavior.

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

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.

 

Categories
Congress Donald Trump

Federal Judge Hands Trump’s Tax Returns To Congressional Committee: Report

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that some of former President Donald Trump’s tax returns must be given to a House committee investigating possible wrongdoing by Trump and his corporation, the Trump Organization.

 

CNN reports that the ruling is a stinging defeat for Trump, who has long tried to keep his business dealings and tax information secret:

“The ruling is a resounding loss for Trump, given that the accounting records appear to cover financial information that the former President has fiercely protected.

“It is a major step toward resolving the long-running fight over access to Trump’s tax records. Trump has been able to delay the subpoena by taking the case to court, appealing all the way to the Supreme Court. That legal fight has lasted more than two years.

“The case is a continuation of the House tax returns case that traveled up to the Supreme Court. Now, District Judge Amit Mehta has weighed the House request for Trump’s financial records against the standards laid out by the Supreme Court in its 7-2 ruling last year.”

Judge Mehta said in his ruling that the House can have all financial information surrounding “Foreign Emoluments Clause issues and the General Services Administration’s lease with the Trump hotel at the Old Post Office building in Washington.” 

Mehta’s ruling also allows House committees to have access to some financial documents from 2017 and 2018, while Trump was serving as president.

In his ruling, Mehta noted:

“The Committee has presented ‘detailed and substantial’ evidence that President Trump, at least through his business interests, likely received foreign payments during the term of his presidency.”

Though Trump will likely appeal the decision, the fact that a federal judge has already ruled in the affirmative for the House sets a precedent that any other court will find it difficult to overrule, especially since Mehta’s ruling is narrow in scope and focused solely on time periods that involve business decisions the ex-president’s company made while he was still in office.