Special Monitor Flags Trump Tax Evasion Plot

 

The Special Monitor appointed to oversee the New York civil case against the Malignant Loser has flagged a scheme that the Malignant Loser used to knowingly and intentionally evade as much as $48 million in taxes.  The findings have now been provided to Justice Arthur Engoron as he determines the penalties he'll impose on the fraudster and his criminal organization:

Tucked into a footnote in a letter written by former federal judge Barbara Jones, the court-appointed special monitor overseeing Donald Trump's New York business fraud case is a bombshell that appears to indicate the former president may have engaged in massive tax evasion, according to a new report released by The Daily Beast.

The letter, first reported by The Messenger, was delivered Friday to update Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron on Jones' findings while reviewing the former president's business dealings through his company, the Trump Organization.

In it, Jones writes that the financial information filed to her by Trump's team has contained "incomplete" or "inconsistent" disclosures containing multiple "errors." However, she describes Trump and his businesses as "cooperative" with her investigation.

But buried in the sixth footnote of the 12-page letter is what the Daily Beast indicated is a clue that Trump may have evaded taxes on $48 million in income, with Jones writing that the massive sum — which Trump has claimed for years that he owes as a debt to one of his companies — never existed.

"When I inquired about this loan, I was informed that there are no loan agreements that memorialize the loan, but that it was a loan that was believed to be between Donald J. Trump, individually, and Chicago Unit Acquisition for $48 million," Jones wrote.

She added: "However, in recent discussions with the Trump Organization, it indicated that it has determined that this loan never existed — and thus that it would be removed from any upcoming forms submitted to the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) and would also be removed from subsequent versions of MAML," Jones wrote, referring to corporate financial statements filed by the company.  [snip]

However, per the Daily Beast, as recently as October, Trump has claimed in financial disclosures that he owes the sum to his company, Chicago Unit Acquisition LLC, listing his debt as more than $50 million.

The discrepancies, if true, would indicate that the disclosures Trump has filed with the federal government were intentionally submitted with inaccuracies related to the debt equating to tens of millions of dollars. "It would appear, assuming Judge Jones' letter is accurate, that this amounts to tax evasion," Martin Lobel, a tax lawyer, told The Daily Beast.

Of course, the broad outline of the Malignant Loser's tax evasion techniques has been known for some time:

[I]n 2019, Mother Jones reported a significant portion of Trump's debt was forgiven by the hedge fund he owed money to after he paid about half of it.

So, instead of paying income taxes of up to 39% on the forgiven debt, the outlet reported, Trump "invented a loan — and then parked it." Debt parking is the process of purchasing debt using a corporation to avoid paying income taxes on it. The maneuver is legal as long as the borrower intends to repay the loan but is illegal to engage in indefinitely.

Adam Levitin, a Georgetown University law professor specializing in commercial real estate finance, told Mother Jones at the time that the plot was "pretty brazen," adding: "if he didn't actually buy the loan, this is just garden-variety fraud."

"While the reasons behind claiming this fake loan are still unknown, at the very least he misled the government for years about his finances," Jordan Libowitz, communications director at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told The Daily Beast. "It appears that Trump knowingly and intentionally broke the law. The only question is how many laws."

Adding the amount of taxes evaded, along with interest and penalties, along with the $370 million New York is already seeking in penalties, the $83 million Carroll defamation judgement, and Manhattan DA Bragg's pending business fraud/ mistress payoff trial -- all in State courts, where he can delay but can't nullify the results -- should be sufficient to eventually cause the Malignant Loser to have to sell off significant chunks, if not all, of his properties.  It also means, the sociopathic narcissist will  be ranting about nothing else but himself from now until Election Day, if he gets that far without being DQed or pulling a stint in the slammer (a.k.a., the American Dream).

And, contrary to the Malignant Loser's latest whine, This Is America.

 

Trump's Taxes Released Today

 

Six years of the personal and business taxes of the Malignant Loser will be released to the public today by the House Ways and Means Committee, after the Malignant Loser fought desperately to hide them. From the Associated Press:

"Trump’s tax returns are likely to offer the clearest picture yet of his finances during his time in office.

Trump, known for building skyscrapers and hosting a reality TV show before winning the White House, broke political norms by refusing to make public his returns as he sought the presidency — though he did give some limited details about his holdings and income on mandatory disclosure forms.

Instead, Trump has touted his wealth in the annual financial statements he gives to banks to secure loans and to financial magazines to justify his place on rankings of the world’s billionaires."

From bits of information released so far, it's clear that the Malignant Loser conned the taxpayers by claiming highly inappropriate deductions, paying little or no taxes for years, and actually getting refunds based on his sketchy filings. There's also evidence of "charity" gifts that were never made or overstated. One fact that has been revealed already is that the IRS, under a Trump appointee, didn't do the legally required audits of his taxes while he was in office, something that each President before him did going back to Nixon. The Malignant Loser continuously lied about being audited which he claimed prevented him from having his taxes released. The breadth of taxes released should provide investigators with evidence of cheating year after year, and a potential roadmap to prosecution.

BONUS: Trump tax stalker David Kay Johnson has more details about what we know. Here's the Committee's earlier report on Trump's taxes.

 

Trump Tax Returns: A Familiar Pattern Of Tax Cheating

 

An initial top line summary of the Malignant Loser's tax returns, just published by the House Ways and Means Committee, shows the grifter's tax avoidance was a feature not a bug:

The amount of income, deductions and taxes paid by or refunded to former President Donald Trump while serving in the White House was detailed in a new report released Tuesday night.

The report reveals that Trump on his federal tax returns declared negative income in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2020, and that he paid a total of $1,500 in income taxes for the years 2016 and 2017 [combined].

On their 2020 income tax returns, Trump and his wife Melania paid no federal income taxes and claimed a refund of $5.47 million, according to the report by the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation.

The report was posted online shortly after the Ways and Means Committee voted to make public redacted versions of Trump's full income tax returns, and those of eight related business entities for the tax years 2015 through 2020.

We're not tax experts, but that doesn't pass our smell test.  No wonder he was desperate to hide his returns from the public.  While his many middle and working class cultists were paying their fair share of taxes, their "billionaire" cult leader not only wasn't, but he actually claimed a $5.47 million refund one year.  And that's just his federal tax returns;  his decades- long history of various tax fraud schemes is well documented.

Let that sink in (quoting another malignant loser).

BONUS:  Two Three more things --

They were not, in fact, under audit https://t.co/U8OmJrpGbv

— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) December 21, 2022

 

The IRS dereliction of duty is sadly in line with Secret Service, FBI and DHS subservience to Trump when in office. Disgraceful.

— Andrew Weissmann 🌻 (@AWeissmann_) December 21, 2022

 

No different than he did with the reimbursement money for the Stormy payment…he took it as a deduction. https://t.co/6VenyzJfw8

— Michael Cohen (@MichaelCohen212) December 21, 2022

 

Appeals Court Denies Trump Attempt To Keep Financial Records From Congress

The noose tightens:

A federal appeals court has sided with House Democrats seeking to obtain President Trump’s private financial records from Deutsche Bank and Capital One, stating that "the public interest favors denial of a preliminary injunction.”

The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit came in the ongoing legal battle Trump has waged over access to his private business records -- including two cases that have already reached the Supreme Court.

The New York-based appeals court upheld Congress’s broad investigative authority and ordered the two banks to comply with the House subpoenas for the president’s financial information. The case pre-dates the public impeachment proceedings in the House. [snip]

The House Intelligence and Financial Services committees are seeking more than 10 years of financial records on Trump, his three oldest children – Eric, Don and Ivanka -- and Trump’s businesses. The committees, led by Reps. Adam Schiff and Maxine Waters, both California Democrats, say they need the records as part of broad investigations into Russian money laundering and potential foreign influence involving Trump.

More than anything else, disclosure of Putin asset Donald "Impeachable Me" Trump's finances would potentially reveal the scope and depth of Russia's hold on him, including underwriting loans to prop up Trump businesses and money laundering through Trump properties, as well as fraud and tax evasion.

As always, we may soon see how the party- before- country Republican Supreme Court will come down on the various cases involving their boy Trump's finances and taxes.  (Is that foreshadowing?)

"Major Inconsistencies" Between Trump Property Tax And Loan Documents

You'll be shocked to hear rotted- out con man Donald "Rump" Trump cheated on his property taxes and business loan documents:

Documents obtained by ProPublica show stark differences in how Donald Trump’s businesses reported some expenses, profits and occupancy figures for two Manhattan buildings, giving a lender different figures than they provided to New York City tax authorities. The discrepancies made the buildings appear more profitable to the lender — and less profitable to the officials who set the buildings’ property tax. [snip]

A dozen real estate professionals told ProPublica they saw no clear explanation for multiple inconsistencies in the documents. The discrepancies are “versions of fraud,” said Nancy Wallace, a professor of finance and real estate at the Haas School of Business at the University of California-Berkeley. “This kind of stuff is not OK.”

New York City’s property tax forms state that the person signing them “affirms the truth of the statements made” and that “false filings are subject to all applicable civil and criminal penalties.” [snip]

ProPublica obtained the property tax documents using New York’s Freedom of Information Law. The documents were public because Trump appealed his property tax bill for the buildings every year for nine years in a row, the extent of the available records. We compared the tax records with loan records that became public when Trump’s lender, Ladder Capital, sold the debt on his properties as part of mortgage-backed securities.

ProPublica reviewed records for four properties: 40 Wall Street, the Trump International Hotel and Tower, 1290 Avenue of the Americas and Trump Tower. Discrepancies involving two of them — 40 Wall Street and the Trump International Hotel and Tower — stood out.

Pro Publica has done an outstanding job getting hold of and researching these property tax and business loan records, so their report is well worth reading. That Trump overvalued properties for loan purposes and undervalued the same ones for tax purposes has been talked about for years, though now the documents proving it are in Pro Publica's possession (and why, ffs, hasn't the city or State been more aggressive in investigating this?).  This fits an overwhelming pattern of fraudulent behavior by Trump and his criminal organization covering all aspects of Federal, State and local tax codes.  He can't be allowed to get away with this, any more than he should be given a pass on his crimes and misconduct as "president."

QOTD: Trump "Excelled At Cashing His Father's Checks"

Steve Benen, reflecting on The New York Times exposé of Trump's self- made- man myth and his crime family's ill- gotten gains:

... Trump, embarrassed by his total dependence on his father, went to great lengths to present himself as some kind of financial genius and an expert in the “art of the deal.” In reality, he excelled at cashing his father’s checks, living off of legally dubious handouts. 

Donald Trump has never been who he’s pretended to be. It was all a con. 

We’ve all heard the “born on third base” joke, but this is something altogether more amazing. Trump had his father’s helicopter drop him off on third base after buying the other team and bribing the umpire to invite Trump to steal home – at which point Trump told viewers he considers himself the greatest player to ever play the game.

What a worthless (in every sense of the word) bum.

Trump's Past Tax Schemes: "Outright Fraud" (UPDATED)

Spoiler alert:  Donald "Rump" Trump is a fraud and a cheat.

"The New York Times" pulls back the curtain on the Trump crime family's finances and pops some hard- to- die myths about "Donald Trump, self- made financial genius:"

President Trump participated in dubious tax schemes during the 1990s, including instances of outright fraud, that greatly increased the fortune he received from his parents, an investigation by The New York Times has found. 

Mr. Trump won the presidency proclaiming himself a self-made billionaire, and he has long insisted that his father, the legendary New York City builder Fred C. Trump, provided almost no financial help. 

But The Times’s investigation, based on a vast trove of confidential tax returns and financial records, reveals that Mr. Trump received the equivalent today of at least $413 million from his father’s real estate empire, starting when he was a toddler and continuing to this day. 

Much of this money came to Mr. Trump because he helped his parents dodge taxes. He and his siblings set up a sham corporation to disguise millions of dollars in gifts from their parents, records and interviews show. Records indicate that Mr. Trump helped his father take improper tax deductions worth millions more. He also helped formulate a strategy to undervalue his parents’ real estate holdings by hundreds of millions of dollars on tax returns, sharply reducing the tax bill when those properties were transferred to him and his siblings.  (our emphasis)

Unfortunately, the statute of limitations on criminal tax fraud has long expired for the activities detailed in the Times article.  Federal civil tax penalties may still apply -- if the Trump IRS had the resources or cared to look into past tax returns.  State civil tax penalties may also accrue. But, does anyone seriously believe these Trump crime family fraudsters haven't been using the same corrupt business model right up until this moment, and that it's all there in the tax returns he's refused to release?  He's already crowed about how smart he is for not paying any Federal income tax, after all.

Maybe the New York State, SDNY and Special Counsel investigations are already on it, but this is another good reason to elect a Democratic House with subpoena power over Rump's personal and corporate tax returns.

UPDATE:  New York State's tax agency is now considering an investigation into the allegations raised in the article.

Tweets Of The Day - Squandered!

One of neo- fascist deadbeat Donald "Rump" Trump's infamous comments in Monday's debate was that, if he didn't pay federal taxes (he doesn't!), it's because they would be "squandered." David Waldman took that ball and ran with it:

I didn't pay taxes because you would have squandered it.  pic.twitter.com/bMcyXlnHcC

— David Waldman (@KagroX) September 27, 2016

I didn't pay taxes because you would have squandered it. pic.twitter.com/Yri2NaeL8V

— David Waldman (@KagroX) September 27, 2016

I didn't pay taxes because you would have squandered it. pic.twitter.com/dgmxkcCPvO

— David Waldman (@KagroX) September 27, 2016

Nyet! Trump Won't Be Releasing His Tax Returns

The Hill is reporting that neo- fascist banana Republican and Siberian candidate Donald "Rump" Trump, contrary to decades of custom, won't be releasing his tax returns.

We wonder why.

He's a tax fraud?

He didn't pay any taxes?

He lied about donating to charities?

He's dependent on loans from Putin oligarch buddies?

All of the above?

Coming on the heels of revelations that the hacking of the DNC e- mails was a Russian operation, curiously timed to benefit Rump and do damage to Hillary Clinton, added to the long- known fact that many of Rump's advisors have serious Russian connections, we're inclined to believe that what the Rump campaign fears most in his tax returns is that his business interests would be exposed as way too cozy and interdependent with the Russian despot, whose desire to weaken American interests is a given. Or, as Rump himself would speculate, "There’s something fishy about the whole thing... Obviously some people think it’s evil intentions. I think it’s incompetence. Regardless, a lot of people think it’s evil intentions... I don’t know. All I know is what’s on the Internet. Wow!"  (Credit to frequent blind squirrel Dana Milbank who riffs on this here.)

And "let's dispel once and for all with the notion" that having the IRS auditing you precludes release.  It doesn't.

Finally,

Same reporters who laughed at the idea that Donald Trump would run for president now mock the idea that he could be owned by foreign power.

— Bob Schooley (@Rschooley) July 27, 2016

Great moments in Republican/Russian relations:
"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall."
"Mr. Putin, can I borrow a few hundred million more?"

— Bob Schooley (@Rschooley) July 27, 2016

Note to journalists (other than Franklin Foer and Josh Marshall):  Do your f*cking jobs!

Sweet Charity: Trump Gives Other Peoples' Money To Fundraiser

Here's neo- fascist dickwhistle Donald "Rump" Trump using OPM to gull people into thinking he's a charitable, decent sort:

Did Donald Trump violate IRS rules, by using a charity's money to buy himself a signed football helmet?

Four years ago, at a charity fundraiser in Palm Beach, Donald Trump got into a bidding war at the evening's live auction. The items up for sale: A Denver Broncos helmet, autographed by then-star quarterback Tim Tebow [Ed.: LOL], and a Tebow jersey [Ed.: Sad!]. 

Trump won, eventually, with a bid of $12,000. Afterward, he posed with the helmet. His purchase made gossip-column news: a flourish of generosity, by a mogul with money to burn. "The Donald giveth, and The Donald payeth," wrote the Palm Beach Daily News. "Blessed be the name of The Donald." 

But Trump didn't actually pay with his own money. Instead, the Susan G. Komen organization — the breast-cancer nonprofit that hosted the party — got a $12,000 payment from another nonprofit, the Donald J. Trump Foundation. 

Trump himself sent no money. (In fact, a Komen spokeswoman said, Trump has never given a personal gift of cash to the Komen organization.) He paid the bill with money from a charity he founded in 1987, but which is largely stocked with other people's money. Trump is the foundation's president. But, at the time of the auction, Trump had given none of his own money to the foundation for three years running.

We've already seen other examples of Rump's "charity";  his refusing to release his ("bombshell") tax returns;  his involvement in get- rich- quick scams like Trump "University" and Trump "Institute"; his ratf*cking of  potential business competitors;  his use of offshore companies for Rump products; and on and on ad nauseam.   All demonstrating once again what a little man he is, what a crooked, money- grubbing (h/t Sen. Warren) little man.

Donald Trump - Tax Fraud?

As the American media continues its shiny- object obsession with Hillary Clinton's private State Department e-mail server (see post below), foreign media is commiting actual journalism (!) by probing into neo- fascist con artist, dangerous demagogue and Republican nomination clincher Donald "Rump" Trump's history of shady business dealings.  Here's what The Telegraph (U.K.) turned up yesterday about a 2007 deal:

Exclusive: Donald Trump signed off on a controversial business deal that was designed to deprive the US Government of tens of millions of dollars in tax, the Telegraph can disclose.

The billionaire approved a $50 million investment in a company – only for the deal to be rewritten several weeks later as a ‘loan’.

Experts say that the effect of this move was to skirt vast tax liabilities, and court papers seen by the Telegraph allege that the deal amounted to fraud.

Independent tax accountants and lawyers said that the documents Mr Trump signed – copies of which were obtained by this newspaper as part of a three-month investigation - contained “red flags” indicating the deal was irregular.

But the Republican presumptive presidential nominee signed nonetheless. (our emphasis)

Did we say "shady business dealings?"  We meant "fraudulent business dealings."  Not to mention harmful to average American taxpayers:

Bob McIntyre, director of the US-based Citizens for Tax Justice campaign group, said the disclosures raised serious questions about Mr Trump’s judgment as well as that of his advisers.  [snip]

Jack Blum, chairman of the Tax Justice Network and a financial crime attorney, said Mr Trump was a "poster child" for tax avoidance property schemes, which ultimately harm the middle-income American.  (our emphasis)

No wonder Rump-- who's the walking, talking id of all things loathsome -- refuses to release his tax returns.  What other "bombshells" (h/t Willard "Mittens" Romney) are in there waiting to be discovered?

We already know he lies about his wealth and charitable donations (which is important to Rump's shallow sense of self).

We know about the multiple business debacles of this dealmaking "genius."

We know he's a narcissistic sociopath who was rooting for the housing market to collapse in 2008 so he could buy properties on the cheap.

Should anyone but the most loyal Stormtrumper doubt that is just the tip of the iceberg?

(Photo:  The Republican Nominee.)