Trump's Crimes & Investigations

[Bact PhD]

Jan 3, 2022 19:58:08 GMT Traveler said:

Jul 9, 2021 12:02:45 GMT @Deleted said:

Who did we lose?  

Check your messages.

[AnBr]

Now you've got me curious, too.

[LFC]

The subpoenas are getting closer to the boss. Moscow Mitch's packed courts aren't going to help them.

New York attorney general Letitia James issued subpoenas to two of former President Trump’s children, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., as part of a civil investigation into the former president’s business practices, according to court documents filed in New York Monday.

The filing by James’ office said it recently issued the subpoenas of Trump’s children for testimony and documents “in connection with an investigation into the valuation of properties owned or controlled by Donald J. Trump or the Trump Organization, or any matter which the Attorney General deems pertinent thereto.”

Although the filing doesn’t indicate when James subpoenaed the two Trump adult children, the New York Times reported that the subpoenas were served on Dec. 1, citing a person with knowledge of the matter.

Trump’s children can now make a motion to quash the subpoenas. The New York attorney general’s office stated in the filing that it would oppose any such motion and will file “any necessary amendments to the pleadings.”

[Traveler]

That is a pretty interesting story.

[LFC]

Strap in. RawStory has a bunch of stories about the Trumps' legal woes in New York. First up, Trump and his kids are personally in the line of fire.

New York's attorney general Letitia James revealed her officer had "significant evidence" of fraud against Donald Trump and his children, and a source said the investigation had personally implicated the former president and his family.

James filed a motion to compel testimony and obtain documents from Trump and his two eldest children in the fraud case, which the attorney general said had misled the IRS and financial institutions about real estate values -- and a source familiar with the investigation said the evidence was strong, reported Rolling Stone.

“The key thing here is this new information demonstrates that Trump and his family are personally implicated in this fraud,” the source said.

Ivanka is certainly lined up. This nitwit likely never thought being daddy's flunky would ever blow back on her.

Former White House advisor Ivanka Trump is accused of misleading Deutsche Bank and the federal government in court documents filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

After Donald Trump, Ivanka, and Donald Trump, Jr. sought to quash a subpoena, James filed a 115-page motion arguing why all three should be compelled to testify.

James says Ivanka worked as an agent of her father in her role as executive vice president for development and acquisitions at the Trump Organization.

"Until January 2017, Ms. Trump was a primary contact for the Trump Organization’s largest lender, Deutsche Bank. In connection with this work, Ms. Trump caused misleading financial statements to be submitted to Deutsche Bank and the federal government," James wrote.

Here's a legal expert on CNN speaking about the extent of their fraud.

CNN interviewed former federal prosecutor Elie Honig about the overnight developments in the case.

"This filing — that came out just before midnight — gives us by far the most depth and detail we have seen on this allegation we have heard for years now about the overvaluation of these assets," Honig said. "Let me tell you, this is mega-fraud. That's not a legal term. This is mega-fraud — we are talking hundreds of millions of dollars, preposterous over statements what the properties are worth."

"This is happening on the civil side. We're talking lawsuits here, not prosecutions. That's a separate question," he noted. "Big steps on the civil side."

[LFC]

The Trump Organization's response was about as serous as you'd expect.

Through the Trump Org. spokesperson, the ex-president and his family went after James personally. The company didn't respond to any of the specific allegations, only to say that the "facts" were "misrepresented." According to the Trump Org., he is innocent of all of the examples of fraud cited in the court documents because James pledged to investigate Trump during her campaign.

"The only one misleading the public is Letitia James. She defrauded New Yorkers by basing her entire candidacy on a promise to get Trump at all costs without having seen a shred of evidence and in violation of every conceivable ethical rule," the statement from the Trump Organization read. "Three years later she is now faced with the stark reality that she has no case. So, in response to Trump suing her and filing multiple ethical complaints, and on the heels of her failed governor's race, she has no choice but to mislead the public yet again by misrepresenting the facts and ignoring her own inflammatory comments. Her allegations are baseless and will be vigorously defended."

It was oddly similar to the statement from Donald Trump Jr., who also personally attacked James as "America's most corrupt AG," without providing any evidence.

He claimed that James "won't even directly respond to our motions about her political targeting of my family because she knows her actions are indefensible. This is nothing more than political retribution from her on behalf of the entire Dem Party. She should be disbarred!"

It's the same kind of tactic Trump and his children have used against almost everyone who has opposed him, especially judges and the courts.

Here' Eric proving that he at least knows how to keep his mouth shut. Compare this to Hillary Clinton's ability to answer questions for 11 hours without a single 5th Amendment duck and cover.

Eric Trump then invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in response to more than 500 questions over six hours.
— southpaw (@southpaw) 1642575259

Well, Eric kinda' knows how to keep his mouth shut. Here he proves that he's not the smarter Trump, he's just as dim and dishonest as the rest of them.

Wednesday morning Eric Trump lashed out at the New York AG, telling Letitia James his family is "prosecuting" her, which is legally impossible. He posted a highly-edited video showing James on the campaign trail promising to investigate Donald Trump – a legitimate campaign pledge.

"Letitia you can not escape your own words," Eric Trump posted to Twitter, along with the doctored video. "This is all window dressing for your abuse of office and ethical misconduct (which we are prosecuting you for) and northing [sic] more than a PR move to revive a political career after your gubernatorial disaster."

Proving that Eric and Junior don't hold a monopoly on stupid and vacuous, Ivanka responded with ... a photo op!

Ivanka Trump broke her eight-month Instagram and Twitter silence on Tuesday when she posted photos of herself participating in a food drive in Rochester, New York, last week.

[LFC]

TPM pulled out a list of top items from the NY AG's court filing:

Of the “misleading” asset valuations that prosecutors are alleging, some highlights:

• More generous than they are: James’ office alleges the Trump Org embellished the value of land donations the company made in California and New York in IRS filings requesting tax deductions.

• Yuge: The organization allegedly lied about the size of Trump’s Trump Tower penthouse apartment, claiming it was three times bigger than it actually is, a difference of $200 million in value (and this information all allegedly came from testimony from longtime Trump finance chief Allen Weisselberg, who was charged with tax fraud last year).

• A rose by any other name: Branding also played a role in value inflation. The court filing alleges the Trump Organization often exaggerated the value of properties that had the Trump name on them.

• Ivanka’s role: An apartment that Trump’s eldest daughter Ivanka Trump was renting on Trump Park Avenue was reported at an $8.5 million value in Trump financial statements, when it was actually worth $25 million, James’ office alleges.

• Don Jr. had a hand in it too: “Moreover, evidence obtained by OAG confirms that Donald Trump, Jr. was involved with certain Trump Organization properties that are valued on Mr. Trump’s Statement of Financial Condition, including 40 Wall Street, and was consulted in connection with the matters on the Statements of Financial Condition,” the filing states.

• The paper president: The AG’s office attempted to obtain documents that might show the former president was involved and aware of the alleged financial smudging, documents like Post-It Notes. The company refused to hand those things over. Trump was notorious throughout his presidency for refusing to correspond via proper electronic or official channels, often resorting to handwritten notes or print-outs of newspaper articles (that he would rip into tiny shreds to dispose of) instead.

[LFC]

It sounds like they won't be charging Trump despite clear evidence of crimes. Are they that afraid of him?

One day after a Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg received harsh criticism for reportedly deciding against charging Donald Trump, a new report suggests his investigation may be close to an end.

"Prosecutors have been sending back documents to people who turned over information about former President Donald Trump’s business, in perhaps the starkest sign yet that the Manhattan District Attorney’s investigation into Trump may be winding down. According to two people familiar with the situation, witnesses who had turned over key documents to investigators have suddenly been getting their evidence back in recent weeks," The Daily Beast reported.

The report came after The New York Times published a scathing resignation letter by former Manhattan District Attorney prosecutor Mark Pomerantz.

"As you know from our recent conversations and presentations, I believe that Donald Trump is guilty of numerous felony violations of the Penal Law in connection with the preparation and use of his annual Statements of Financial Condition. His financial statements were false, and he has a long history of fabricating information relating to his personal finances and lying about his assets to banks, the national media, counterparties, and many others, including the American people. The team that has been investigating Mr. Trump harbors no doubt about whether he committed crimes — he did," Pomerantz argued.

Constitutional law expert Laurence Tribe saw the report and argued the case needs to be handed over to Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney Damian Williams.

"All the evidence should indeed be turned over — not to the witnesses but to the US Attorney for SDNY: If former Manhattan prosecutor Mark Pomerantz is right, it constitutes strong proof of federal wire fraud by Donald Trump, and DOJ should have it now," Tribe wrote.

[goldenvalley]

Mar 25, 2022 19:55:01 GMT LFC said:

It sounds like they won't be charging Trump despite clear evidence of crimes. Are they that afraid of him?

One day after a Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg received harsh criticism for reportedly deciding against charging Donald Trump, a new report suggests his investigation may be close to an end.

"Prosecutors have been sending back documents to people who turned over information about former President Donald Trump’s business, in perhaps the starkest sign yet that the Manhattan District Attorney’s investigation into Trump may be winding down. According to two people familiar with the situation, witnesses who had turned over key documents to investigators have suddenly been getting their evidence back in recent weeks," The Daily Beast reported.

The report came after The New York Times published a scathing resignation letter by former Manhattan District Attorney prosecutor Mark Pomerantz.

"As you know from our recent conversations and presentations, I believe that Donald Trump is guilty of numerous felony violations of the Penal Law in connection with the preparation and use of his annual Statements of Financial Condition. His financial statements were false, and he has a long history of fabricating information relating to his personal finances and lying about his assets to banks, the national media, counterparties, and many others, including the American people. The team that has been investigating Mr. Trump harbors no doubt about whether he committed crimes — he did," Pomerantz argued.

Constitutional law expert Laurence Tribe saw the report and argued the case needs to be handed over to Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney Damian Williams.

"All the evidence should indeed be turned over — not to the witnesses but to the US Attorney for SDNY: If former Manhattan prosecutor Mark Pomerantz is right, it constitutes strong proof of federal wire fraud by Donald Trump, and DOJ should have it now," Tribe wrote.

That's a lot of time flushed down the toilet. Was Bragg looking for a dead bang winner?  Is there ever such a thing?  

A hunch tells me that Trump style fraud is widespread among the big money dealers...real estate in particular and will be seen by the jury as just the way business is done by the big boys so really this is nothing.  There is one view of law for the big guys and a whole different one for us poor schmucks trying to get a home mortgage or trying to borrow money to pay off a mortgage.  

[jackd]

When prosecuting a character like Trump, it better be close to a dead bang winner or one has handed Trump a very dangerous weapon: exoneration.

[LFC]

Time to investigate Trump's dealings with a shady, online bank.

Former President Donald Trump has faced a crisis in bank lending for his business operations. The Trump Organization was the company behind "The Apprentice" and business leaders clamored to "win" a competition that would legitimize their careers. Now it's Trump who needs help appearing trustworthy to anyone who can lend him money and he's going to a few odd places searching for capital.

According to NBC News, Trump Tower was refinanced with a $100 million loan from Axos Financial, an obscure internet-only bank in San Diego and Las Vegas, financial documents from New York City's municipality revealed. According to those documents, the loan was made just days after an auditor from the Trump Organization quit, claiming that none of the financial statements for the past 10 years could be trusted.

Trump has filed for bankruptcy six times for five different companies. Despite being a former president of the United States, banks don't want to lend to Trump anymore. Axos, however, stepped up, and they aren't a stranger to different kinds of loans.

"Axos has teamed up with nonbank lenders on loans to small businesses that carried cripplingly high double- and triple-digit effective annual interest rates," reported NBC, citing loan documents. "The bank has also specialized in loans to foreign nationals, internal documents and its website state, and has offered a type of loan that allows borrowers who paid cash for a property to turn around and instantly take money out. Such loans may pose money laundering risks, banking analysts say."

They're also involved in a lawsuit with two former employees who had questions about the way Axos was conducting its lending operations. One of those, Jennifer Brear Brinker, worked in the company's Risk Management and Compliance Department. She alleges that Axos intentionally understaffs the compliance team “in an effort to conceal its failure to comply with federal banking regulations” and contends she was terminated in January 2021 while completing a report highlighting deficiencies at Axos including “significant issues in the bank’s anti-money laundering practices.”

Axos denies it.

They're also facing a former auditor in court later this month. Charles Erhart alleges he was fired after he had concerns about the lending practices.

[LFC]

There's more evidence that the Manhattan investigation into Trump and the Trump Organization has all but collapsed. It sounds like they've lost a lot of their top talent.

Over the last several weeks, the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation into former President Donald Trump has appeared to be unraveling, with the two top prosecutors on the case resigning over the lack of charges and the DA feeling so attacked over the lack of movement that he issued a statement Thursday saying an indictment against Trump could still come.

Solomon Shinerock—a lead investigator who helped drive much of the intensive, four-year effort—is no longer as actively involved in the case, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, who all spoke on condition of anonymity.

In recent weeks, Shinerock’s pullback from the team investigating Trump has been conspicuous enough to frustrate some who have been on the prosecutors’ side—and has been noticeable enough to quietly delight lawyers working on the ex-president’s and Trump Organization’s end, sources noted.

Another person familiar with the situation described the current state of the team, which had been investigating Trump, as “gutted” and a “shell” of its former self, even beyond what’s previously been reported. The loss of momentum in this high-profile probe—which some of its former prosecutors believe already produced sufficient evidence to criminally charge Trump—has left several lawyers who’ve worked on the investigation feeling frustrated, and in some cases enraged.

Among the frustrated is Shinerock, according to a source familiar with the matter and another individual briefed on the situation. Shinerock has, predictably, refrained from commenting in public about the current state of the criminal probe, or his opinion about the apparently stalled investigation into Trump and his business empire.

Indeed, last month, Carey Dunne and Mark Pomerantz abruptly departed, citing their displeasure with Bragg’s refusal to sign off on an indictment of Trump on the criminal charge of falsifying business records, among other allegations.

Dunne, a former prosecutor who made a name for himself defending Wall Street bankers, was the office’s general counsel and successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court that his investigators should get Trump’s personal tax documents. Pomerantz, also a former prosecutor, left his white-collar criminal defense role at the high-end Paul Weiss law firm to help bolster the local prosecution office’s massive undertaking.

Shinerock was the third leg of the stool. Multiple witnesses have described him as the point man on the investigation, asking razor-sharp questions that focused on the inner workings of the Trump Organization and any involvement in criminal behavior by its executives. Shinerock was prominently present during the office’s three visits to the federal prison in Otisville, New York, where prosecutors interviewed former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen during his stay there, according to the former inmate.

[goldenvalley]

Apr 8, 2022 19:45:37 GMT LFC said:

There's more evidence that the Manhattan investigation into Trump and the Trump Organization has all but collapsed. It sounds like they've lost a lot of their top talent.

Why?  Lots of room to speculate on that.  Desire for an airtight case based on the idea that "if you come for the king you best not miss." Or the DA has other...motivation for letting the investigation die.

[LFC]

Apr 8, 2022 20:21:16 GMT goldenvalley said:

Apr 8, 2022 19:45:37 GMT LFC said:

There's more evidence that the Manhattan investigation into Trump and the Trump Organization has all but collapsed. It sounds like they've lost a lot of their top talent.

Why? 

Because of the express statements of the top people who left. Maybe I'm just a pessimist but of course there's been plenty of less specific "Trump will never be prosecuted" talk here.

[goldenvalley]

I put this here because of the comprehensive view of Trump's behavior in terms of Russia, Ukraine, and 1/6 contained in this article which keys from an interview with Fiona Hill, the Russia/Putin expert that testified in the 1st impeachment trial.  This is a long article that contains a lot of the history with Putin and the US going back into Bush, the Younger years, the Russian activity during 2016, and the Ukrainian mess that led to the impeachment.  Interesting stuff, clearly represents one perspective on history and a lot of fly on the wall views of Trump's behavior.

Of her experience trying to steer policy during her two years in the Trump White House, Hill said: “It was extraordinarily difficult. Certainly, that was the case for those of us who were serving in the administration with the hopes of pushing back against the Russians, to make sure that their intervention in 2016 didn’t happen again. And along the way, some people kind of lost their sense of self.”

With a flash of a smile, she said: “We used to have this running shtick in our office at the N.S.C. As a kid, I was a great fan of Tolkien and ‘Lord of the Rings.’ So, in the Trump administration, we’d talk about the ring, and the fear of becoming Gollum” — the character deformed by his attachment to the powerful treasure — “obsessing over ‘my precious,’ the excitement and the power of being in the White House. And I did see a lot of people slipping into that.” When I asked Hill whom she saw as the Gollums in the Trump White House, she replied crisply: “The ones who wouldn’t testify in his impeachment hearing. Quite a few people, in other words.”

About Trump and his desire to remain president:

But she was alarmed, Hill told me, by Trump’s antidemocratic monologues. “He would constantly tell world leaders that he deserved a redo of his first two years,” she recalled. “He’d say that his first two years had been taken away from him because of the ‘Russia hoax.’ And he’d say that he wanted more than two terms.”

“He said it as a joke,” I suggested.

“Except that he clearly meant it,” Hill insisted. She mentioned David Cornstein, a jeweler by trade and longtime friend of Trump’s whom the president appointed as his ambassador to Hungary. “Ambassador Cornstein openly talked about the fact that Trump wanted the same arrangement as Viktor Orban” — referring to the autocratic Hungarian prime minister, who has held his position since 2010 — “where he could push the margins and stay in power without any checks and balances.” (Cornstein could not be reached for comment.)

Hill, for her part, emerged from the events of 2019 rather dazed by her sudden fame — but just as much so, she told me, by the implications of what she and other White House colleagues had experienced that culminated in Trump’s impeachment. “In real time, I was putting things together,” she said. “The domestic political errands, the way Trump had privatized foreign policy for his own purposes. It was this narrow goal: his desire to stay in power, irrespective of what other people wanted.”

Hill was at her desk at home on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, writing her memoir, when a journalist friend she first met in Russia called. The friend told her to turn on the television. Once she did so, a burst of horrific clarity overtook her. “I saw the thread,” she told me. “The thread connecting the Zelensky phone call to Jan. 6. And I remembered how, in 2020, Putin had changed Russia’s Constitution to allow him to stay in power longer. This was Trump pulling a Putin.”

[LFC]

Trump is held in criminal contempt. The $10,000 per day will just get skimmed off his MAGAt grift. They need to perp walk his doughy, orange ass into prison until the documents are supplied and verified. They won't but they need to.

A New York state judge held former President Trump in contempt of court on Monday for defying an order to turn over documents to state attorney general Letitia James for her office’s civil investigation into his business practices.

Judge Arthur Engoron ordered the former president to comply with subpoenas that New York Attorney General Letitia James initially issued in December seeking records. Trump also faces a fine of $10,000 per day until he meets the court’s requirements.

“Mr. Trump: I know you take your business seriously, and I take mine seriously,” Engorgon said in court, before holding Trump in contempt, according to the New York Times.

The state attorney general’s investigation into Trump’s business practices has occurred in parallel and in tandem with a criminal probe led by the Manhattan District Attorney — formerly Cy Vance, now Alvin Bragg. Both investigations center on whether the former president inflated or deflated the value of his real estate holdings for banks and tax authorities.

[jackd]

I think the article is mistaken and he was held in civil, as opposed to criminal, contempt.

[goldenvalley]

Apr 25, 2022 21:12:13 GMT jackd said:

I think the article is mistaken and he was held in civil, as opposed to criminal, contempt.

What does it take legally to seize his assets for his failure to comply and pay the fines?  

[AnBr]

Maybe DeSatinist isn't so smart. Orange County would see financial burden if Reedy Creek dissolves. Property tax could rise 15 to 20%

[Bact PhD]

Apr 26, 2022 3:11:51 GMT AnBr said:

Maybe DeSatinist isn't so smart. Orange County would see financial burden if Reedy Creek dissolves. Property tax could rise 15 to 20%

Orange County is overwhelmingly blue. The Sheriff is married to the Congresswoman running for Rubio’s Senate seat. A feature, not a bug, when the goal is to “own the libs”.

[goldenvalley]

Apr 26, 2022 3:22:05 GMT Bact PhD said:

Apr 26, 2022 3:11:51 GMT AnBr said:

Maybe DeSatinist isn't so smart. Orange County would see financial burden if Reedy Creek dissolves. Property tax could rise 15 to 20%

Orange County is overwhelmingly blue. The Sheriff is married to the Congresswoman running for Rubio’s Senate seat. A feature, not a bug, when the goal is to “own the libs”.

Thanks for the insider view.  National media doesn't talk about the political makeup of Orange County.  Who cares if those folks suffer a loss of services or property tax increases?

[pnwguy]

Apr 26, 2022 3:22:05 GMT Bact PhD said:

Apr 26, 2022 3:11:51 GMT AnBr said:

Maybe DeSatinist isn't so smart. Orange County would see financial burden if Reedy Creek dissolves. Property tax could rise 15 to 20%

Orange County is overwhelmingly blue. The Sheriff is married to the Congresswoman running for Rubio’s Senate seat. A feature, not a bug, when the goal is to “own the libs”.

When the GOP gains more power, expect them to do more to shift tax burdens to blue regions and states.  These already carry the red areas financially, even as the MAGAts shout about being the ones who are taxed to death. 

MAGAts don't seem to do math well.  It must be the fault of those CRT-laced text books that ruined their education.

[LFC]

Apr 26, 2022 15:13:48 GMT pnwguy said:

It must be the fault of those CRT-laced text books that ruined their education.

Sure, like they can spell "CRT."

[pnwguy]

Apr 26, 2022 15:33:37 GMT LFC said:

Apr 26, 2022 15:13:48 GMT pnwguy said:

It must be the fault of those CRT-laced text books that ruined their education.

Sure, like they can spell "CRT."

GOP Math is...

[LFC]

Has Putin been helping Trump out? (I'm just asking the question.)

The body of a missing whistleblower and alleged federal informant was found Monday morning by police in Los Angeles. According to a bombshell 2019 profile by The New York Times, Valentin Broeksmit, 46, was the son of a high-ranking Deutsche Bank executive who killed himself in 2014. Upon his death, Broeksmit gained access to scores of documents, including ones that gave insight into the German bank’s relationship with Donald Trump. He gave the classified documents to federal investigators and journalists who were investigating potential crimes, the Times reports. The Los Angeles Police Department announced in a statement that Broeksmit was last seen on April 6, 2021, and was later reported missing by his family. According to authorities, his body was found at a high school and investigators don’t suspect foul play led to his death. David Enrich, the Times reporter who profiled Broeksmit tweeted Tuesday: “This is terrible news. Val was a longtime source of mine and the main character in my book. We had a complicated relationship, but this is just devastating to hear.”