Trump Cheated (Shocker!) on Property Tax; But Will Anyone Go to Jail?
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Trump tax returns: Deutsche Bank does not have Trump's financial documents, court says
ProPublica published a piece Wednesday that put the spotlight once again on some questionable financial practices of the Trump Organization, which showed one set of books to banks (inflating value) and another to New York City tax authorities (deflating value).
Is this just the usual Trump mendacity, or can prosecutors see this as part of a pattern? And if so, could it be prosecuted? Who would be tagged as the defendant(s)? If not, what more is needed to bring the guilty parties to justice?
Before we explore these questions, let’s look at the facts. Both versions of them.
ProPublica obtained property tax docs for four Trump properties. These docs became public when Trump appealed the tax bills, and the loan records became public when Trump’s lenders sold the debt on the properties. Significant discrepancies were unearthed between the tax records and loan records for two of the properties: Trump International Hotel & Tower, on Central Park West, and 40 Wall St.
Tax and loan documents for 40 Wall St. showed significant discrepancies in how certain costs such as insurance were reported. Further, Trump representatives reported different occupancy rates to lenders and tax officials: 81 percent to lenders (rising later to 95 percent), and just 59 percent to tax authorities. Rising occupancy rates are valued by lenders because they are indicative of rising income level which is material to securing refinancing, while lower rates, of course, mean lower taxes.
Meanwhile, documents for the Trump International Hotel & Tower showed that city tax officials were advised that this property made about $822,000 in 2017 from renting space in the building to other businesses, while loan officials were told that the building made about $1.67 million. ProPublica further notes that Trump appeared not to report income from leasing space for television antennas on tax documents but did report the income on loan docs.
Each of the above-noted discrepancies is indicative of potential fraud. But do they represent instances of a prosecutable case?
The short answer is: not yet. The discrepancies do reflect a situational ethics approach toward financial obligations and responsibilities. But more evidence will be needed to prosecute anyone should criminal prosecution be considered by the authorities.
Who might be prosecuted here? It is unclear just who is responsible for submitting the doctored financial statements to the lending authorities and tax officials. Were the folks who submitted the documents the same folks who prepared them? If so, what were their marching orders? Who directed the Trump Organization officials to tailor the financial statements to minimize property taxes or maximize occupancy rates to obtain loans?
Investigators need to home in on the work papers prepared to support the finagled financial statements in order to determine “willful intent,” or “mens rea” that James Comey so infamously referenced. Such evidence may well be found at Mazars USA—the Trump Organization accounting firm that is the subject of intensive litigation with regard to subpoenas served by both the U.S. Congress and the Manhattan DA’s office.
Accountant work papers have been found to be beneficial when uncovering evidence of intent to defraud in case after case of white-collar fraud, specifically tax fraud. In fact, accountant work files and testimony provided critical evidence leading to the conviction of Paul Manafort in the Mueller investigations and prosecutions. It should be noted that tax fraud, bank fraud, and the falsification of business records may result in felony charges that could be contemplated by the Manhattan DA and provide for prison sentences that could lead the convicted defendants to land in Rikers Island for a stretch with the aforementioned Manafort.
Evidence of corrupt intent to defraud either a financial institution or a public tax authority is critical to a successful criminal prosecution. The use of a double or triple set of books and records by company officials for fraudulent purposes is a terrific example of overt acts of corrupt intent. But further evidence will be needed here to link all those involved in each of the instances denoted above.
Email, texts, voice mail, notes to the file and other evidence of directions to finagle the financial docs are needed. Further forensic analysis of the documents, for example fingerprint analysis, ink chemistry analysis and handwriting analysis are investigative tools available to the prosecutors to tighten the vise and provide the links in the chain of potential targets.
Cohen was reportedly debriefed in detail recently by the Manhattan DA’s office. His testimony will be needed to outline just who in the Trump Organization was responsible for the preparation of the questionable documents referenced above. Cohen’s credibility will clearly be attacked in court by the defendant(s) and will become a question for the jury to grapple with.
Cohen provided the Southern District of New York with a prosecutive path for those responsible for cooking the books at the Trump Organization with regard to the reimbursement of “hush money” payments to Cohen. That path is now available to the Manhattan DA. Add Cohen’s now corroborated congressional testimony outlining the transactional financial ethics referenced above, used by the Trump team in their shady business dealings and the jury will likely be sitting on the edge of their seats. All the DA needs to do now is fill in some blanks in combination with demonstrating a pattern of fraud over time—the closing argument is shaping up to be very persuasive.
The allegation that the Trump Organization appeared not to report income from leasing space for television antennas to tax authorities but did report the income on loan docs revives memories of the landmark New York Times tax fraud series on Fred Trump and Donald Trump’s financial shenanigans in the ’90s wherein the Times detailed multiple instances of unreported income streams tailored by Fred Trump for the Donald.
While the statute of limitations has long expired with regard to the multi-million dollar gift tax evasion schemes entered into by Donald Trump, prosecutors can use evidence of historical frauds to depict a pattern of fraudulent conduct on the part of a defendant no matter how long ago the fraud occurred. It goes to willfulness or corrupt intent exhibited by Individual-1.
The Manhattan DA’s case against the Trump Organization may appear to be on its surface just a mundane business fraud type of case. But fraudulent documents don’t change stories, particularly when there are witnesses available to tie the documents and the corrupt intent together.
Add the historical pattern of fraud engaged in by Individual-1 and the Manhattan DA’s case appears to be silently moving along like a stealth nuclear submarine under the radar and there are no available defenses available like an Office of Legal Counsel opinion to protect the prospective defendants from a potentially lethal prosecutorial attack.
“Our entire crony capitalist system, Democrat
BULLSHIT! TRUMP AND HIS PARASITE
CHILDREN
HAVE SCREWED EVERY CONTRACTOR AND
PERSON
THEY’VE DONE BUSINESS WITH FROM DAY ONE!
Eric
Trump on paying contractors: We
pay
‘people when they do great jobs’
ANN COULTER
“Truthfully, It Is Tough To Ignore Some Of The Gross
Immoral Behavior By The President” WASHINGTON POST
Trump's sister quits as a federal judge 10
days into formal probe of her possible role in massive family tax scam that
could have ended in her impeachment
“Our entire crony capitalist system, Democrat
and Republican alike,
has become a kleptocracy
approaching par with
third-world hell-holes.
This is the
way a great country is raided by its
elite.” ---- Karen
McQuillan
GET THIS BOOK!
Peter Schweizer, author
of “Secret Empires: How the
American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends,”
BULLSHIT! TRUMP AND HIS PARASITE
CHILDREN
HAVE SCREWED EVERY CONTRACTOR AND
PERSON
THEY’VE DONE BUSINESS WITH FROM DAY ONE!
Eric
Trump on paying contractors: We
pay
‘people when they do great jobs’
The Trump Organization has been criticized for stiffing
contractors. Contractors have filed hundreds of
complaints, which date back to the 1980s, alleging that the real estate company
did not pay them.
“We
believe in paying people when they do great jobs. And we get people paid
incredibly quickly. And we pay contractors,” said Eric Trump, executive vice
president of The Trump Organization at Yahoo Finance’s All Market
Summit, adding that the organization only refuses to pay contractors
who fail to complete a job.
“Yeah,
well, they [the unpaid contractors] didn't finish a job. And they didn't do a
good job. And they flaked out. And they were two months behind schedule. And so
you had to let go of them. And you had to bring somebody else in to do the job
that they otherwise would have. And it's called the real world,” he said,
referring to the allegations. “People like to take cheap shots at us.”
Eric Trump’s defense echoes his father’s status quo response.
During the
2016 presidential debate,
President Donald Trump said something very similar. “Maybe he didn’t do a good
job and I was unsatisfied with his work,” he said in response to nonpayment
accusations.
Eric Trump
also noted to Yahoo Finance that The Trump Organization has developed
institutional knowledge about getting the best deals with contractors. “In New
York, we know what contractors are going to be incredible, what contractors are
going to — I won't use a word, but — take advantage of you,” he said. “And, you
know, you have that institutional knowledge. You know your way around. You know
the language. You know the laws. You know how things are built. You know what
kind of foundations work in the ground.”
ANN COULTER
TRUMP’S PARASITIC FAMILY
Jared’s BFF, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin
Salman (MBS), and the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Muhammad bin Zayed (MBZ),
refer to Jared as “the clown prince.” Bone-cutter MBS assured those around him
that he had Jared “in my pocket.”
Following meetings at the White House and also with the Kushners over
their 666 Fifth Avenue property, former Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin
Jassim reported back to the emir that “the people atop the new administration
were heavily motivated by personal financial interest.”
“Truthfully, It Is Tough To Ignore Some Of The Gross
Immoral Behavior By The President” WASHINGTON POST
Trump's sister quits as a federal judge 10
days into formal probe of her possible role in massive family tax scam that
could have ended in her impeachment
· Trump's older sister resigned as an appellate court judge shortly
after a probe opened into her involvement in a family tax scheme
·
· 10 days ago an investigation into whether Maryanne Trump Barry violated
judicial conduct rules launched
·
· The case was closed after Barry resigned because retired judges are not
subject to the rules
·
· Barry had not heard a case in two years after transitioning to inactive
shortly after Trump's inauguration
·
· The Trump siblings were probed after an investigation found they were
involved in a tax scheme related to the transfer of their father's real estate
empire
President Donald Trump’s older sister
Maryanne Trump Barry, 82, retired as a federal judge just days after an
investigation opened into her possible role in family tax fraud scheme.
Barry was a federal appellate judge in the third district, which
includes Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, and the investigation could
have led to her impeachment.
She had not presided over a case in more than two years, but was still
listed as an inactive senior judge in the third district – usually the step
taken before full retirement.
Barry did not give any reasons for her retirement.
The probe into the Trumps was first opened last fall, after a New York
Times investigation found the Trump siblings engaged in tax schemes in the
1990s, including fraud, that increased their inherited wealth.
+4
Maryanne Trump Barry resigned as a federal appellate judge 10 days into
an investigation into whether she violated judicial conduct rules
An investigation into the Trump siblings opened after the New York Times
reported that they transferred their father's real estate assets improperly in
the 1990s
PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES DONALD TRUMP: Pathological liar,
swindler, con man, huckster, golfing cheat, charity foundation fraudster, tax
evader, adulterer, porn whore chaser and servant of the Saudis dictators
THE TRUMP FAMILY FOUNDATION SLUSH FUND…. Will they see jail?
VISUALIZE REVOLUTION!.... We know where they live!
“Underwood is a Democrat and is seeking millions of dollars in
penalties. She wants Trump and his eldest children barred from running other
charities.”
WHO IS
FINANCING ALL THE TRUMP AND SON-IN-LAW’S REFINANCING SCAMS???
FOLLOW THE
MONEY!
"I
doubt that Trump understands -- or cares about -- what message he's sending.
Wealthy Saudis, including members of the extended royal family, have been his
patrons for years, buying his distressed properties when he needed money. In
the early 1990s, a Saudi prince purchased Trump's flashy yacht so that the then-struggling
businessman could come up with cash to stave off personal bankruptcy, and
later, the prince bought a share of the Plaza Hotel, one of Trump's many
business deals gone bad. Trump also sold an entire floor of his landmark Trump
Tower condominium to the Saudi government in 2001."
“The Wahhabis
finance thousands of madrassahs
throughout the
world where young boys are
brainwashed
into becoming fanatical foot-soldiers
for the
petrodollar-flush Saudis and other emirs of
the Persian
Gulf.” AMIL IMANI
I recommend that Ignatius read Raymond Ibrahim's outstanding
book Sword and Scimitar, which
contains accounts of dynastic succession in the Muslim monarchies of the Middle
East, where standard operating procedure for a new monarch on the death of his
father was to strangle all his brothers. Yes, it's
awful. But it has been happening for a very long
time. And it's not going to change quickly, no matter how outraged
we pretend to be. MONICA SHOWALTER
WHAT WILL TRUMP AND HIS PARASITIC FAMILY DO FOR MONEY???
JUST ASK THE SAUDIS!
JOHN DEAN: Not so far. This has been right by the letter
of the special counsel’s charter. He’s released the document. What I’m
looking for is relief and understanding that there’s no witting or unwitting
likelihood that the President is an agent of Russia. That’s when I’ll feel
comfortable, and no evidence even hints at that. We don’t have that yet. We’re
still in the process of unfolding the report to look at it. And its, as I say,
if [Attornery General William Barr] honors his word, we’ll know more soon.
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