New York State Investigations of Trump and Related

[chancery]

I’ve lost track of an interesting tweet from yesterday, to the effect that the reason for making substantial off-the-books payments to your CFO is to make sure that he’ll go along with all the other crooked things that you’re doing.

It was posted by a woman, a lawyer, I think. It doesn’t seem to have been Terri Kanefield, Remy Green, Asha Rangappa, or Jennifer Taub.

I’d be grateful if someone who remembers it could post a link.

[bob]

Read the comments; I'm surprised Gallups is abiding all the people raking him.

[Gregg]

Read the comments; I'm surprised Gallups is abiding all the people raking him.

No phucknut, he got curious when Trump practically bragged about all the criming he was getting away with.

[chancery]

No phucknut, he got curious when Trump practically bragged about all the criming he was getting away with.

To say nothing of Michael Cohen's testimony, which, notwithstanding Cohen's criminal record, amply justified further investigation of Trump.

[chancery]

Tristan Snell @TristanSnell is a former assistant attorney general who led New York’s investigation and civil enforcement action against Trump University. He has been tweeting actively about the Trump prosecution and appears to believe Vance has more bad news in store for Trump. I hope it's true.

Some samples.

I think folks are understandably cynical after 5 years of being told Trump is in trouble and about to go down.

The difference this time is the SCOTUS case. That was the turning point. The financial records they produced are like rocket fuel for a white collar prosecution.

Trump is NOT being prosecuted because of his tax returns.

He is being prosecuted because of all the backup financial records — the books, ledgers, spreadsheets, etc. Those records are the fruit of the SCOTUS decision — and the key to the NY prosecutions.

To anyone who’s skeptical of the Trump prosecution saying “well they had the goods before and Trump got off”

No. This is the first investigation of Trump to make use of the full financial records finally produced after the SCOTUS case. They had to cough up the books!

When we filed the Trump University case, Trump railed at us for bringing a politically motivated case. His lawyers falsely accused me of fabricating evidence and testimony. They threatened to subpoena me.

None of it worked. We had them dead to rights, and we prevailed.

Unindicted co-conspirator #1 appears to be Jeff McConney.

This is actually worse news for Trump than if it were Trump.

If McConney has flipped, then Weisselberg may need to save his own skin, and Trump loses his two senior most finance lieutenants

[RVInit]

I think the ABC news anchor might have a point. Trump may not ditch Weisselberg like he ditches everyone else. Weisselberg is different and served the family for a very long time. And given his age, all they really need to do is file motions and run out the clock until he keels over. I would be kind of surprised if Weisselberg serves a day in prison, Trump and his lawyers are experts at keeping litigation going for years and years until the other party finally gives up. In this case NY may not give up but Weiseelberg may just die before this ever actually goes to trial.

[northland10]

Read the comments; I'm surprised Gallups is abiding all the people raking him.

No phucknut, he got curious when Trump practically bragged about all the criming he was getting away with.

I'm sure he says the the same thing about racial profiling by police. You know he has said repeatedly how unAmerican that is.

[Kendra]

https://www.justsecurity.org/77312/alle ... derations/

Trump’s “eyes and ears” took a pounding in court on Thursday with a 15-count indictment that spanned tax fraud, grand larceny, conspiracy and more. The 73-year old accountant who it has been said, knows essentially where every penny goes regarding the Trump Organization, took a beating and will now have some big decisions to make that will impact how he chooses to live the rest of his life and how other members of his family may live theirs. And then there is the matter of Allen Weisselberg’s loyalty to the head of the Trump Organization, the entity that was also indicted yesterday, and the potential impact the chief financial officer’s full cooperation may have on the public life of former president Donald Trump.

Undoubtedly, after seeing the indictment filed by the Manhattan District Attorney and New York State Attorney General, Weisselberg’s first question to his legal defense team was – How much jail time am I looking at? It is that question that may shape the future of all of the associated individuals and organizations. It requires peering not only into the current charges and the language of the indictment, however. It also requires knowing what the indictment may signal about prosecutors’ next steps in ratcheting up their pressure.

Lots moar at the link.

[chancery]

Brian Beutler
@brianbeutler
Who knows what the future holds, but Daniel has been a helpful and thus far accurate corrective to the familiar exuberance on here about the law finally coming for Trump.

Daniel Goldman
@danielsgoldman
This detailed history of the Weisselberg prosecution reveals an important nugget: Weisselberg has added a tax expert and former IRS senior official to his team. That’s not a move taken by someone who is planning to cooperate.

[filly]

I understand Goldman's caution but what is the tax expert going to say? It's perfectly legal to keep two sets of books and not declare what is clearly income on one's taxes? It's perfectly legal to reside in NYC and not pay NYC income taxes? I'm not a tax lawyer, but those things seem to be difficult to advance as defenses.

[much ado]

Yes, Weisselberg has added a tax expert and former IRS senior official to his team. Weisselberg needs someone to advise him who really knows what is likely to happen legally. An advisor who really knows tax law and Weisselberg's circumstances may at some point say "Mr. Weisselberg, you are truly f**cked. My advice is to fold your defense and flip to reduce your jail time."

[Suranis]

Thread...

https://threader.app/thread/1410676547124707336

@kurteichenwald

As someone who has written for decades about corporate crime, I was reading the Trump O/Weisselberg indictment going, "Yah, ok..hmm..yah..ok..Wait..HOLY SHIT!" The Trump Org is in deep, deep trouble. And not because of the criminal charges. Because of its bank loan covenants.../1

...in fact, if even the smallest bit of this case is true, I think the Trump Org could be dead. It's complicated, but it primarily pertains to the 12th count of the indictment.Taking this a step at a time: Like most real estate companies, the Trump Org is horribly illiquid...2

...this means it cannot readily convert its assets into cash as needed. Worse, because of the incredible incompetence and business idiocy of Trump, cash on hand (and access rapid loans through what is known as the commercial paper market) is small. So, the company survives.../3

...on loans against assets. Trump originally depended on bank loans, then jumped into high-yield (junk) bond market, which is why so many of his businesses went bankrupt: Junk bonds gave him lots of cash to spend, but he was too stupid to apply an analysis beyond "I'm great".../4

...to figure out how he was going to generate enough cash to pay interest on bonds. He couldn't. With his dad, he tried laundering money through Trump Castle to get past a requirement with his bank loans brought on by his junk debt, but got caught. Everything crashed down.../5

...so, the bottom line: Trump knows how to borrow money, he doesn't know how to manage it. Then came The Apprentice, which gave him lots of cash. Of course, he spent it all, then used assets he purchased as security to borrow from banks on apparent assumption that "I'm great"...6

...would fix any cash flow problems. He now has huge amounts of debt against assets that are plummeting in value because of January 6 and his toxic brand name. He *needed* the presidency to survive financially. I have always believed, that is why he is so desperate to keep it...7

....because if he was president, he could hit up the Russians, Saudis, etc to bail him out. Now, with him toxic and a threat to the country, those nations know that any secret payments they make to him run a huge risk of being discovered.Which brings us to today's charges...8

...all bank loans with a business come with "lending covenants." These are basically a series of requirements, some of which include "you'll behave" in minor character. But *the most important part* of any loan covenant is the "books and records" portion. It is included in.../9

...every covenant for a bank loan to a business. The terms are simple: You maintain truthful books and records, you attest to us that they are truthful, and we are allowed to review them at any time. There is no "You can lie *just a little bit* on your books and records".../10

...it's all or nothing, like pregnancy: You either are or you arent. The books and records either are truthful or they aren't. Which brings us to count 12, which I think you can now understand the significance of:

Count 12.png (65.53 KiB) Viewed 2798 times

...Forget Weisselberg. That is every every corporate defendant, every entity that could have a loan covenant in its name. Every Trump Org bank lender in the world, right now, is looking at this indictment, looking at their covenants, and calling the Trump Org demanding.../12

...they turn over every relevant book and record pertaining to these issues. If they refuse...BOOM. Loans pulled. If they do and the banks don't like what they see...BOOM. Loans pulled. If the loans come due (which 100s of millions do next year) no way they get refinanced..../13

...there may be something I am missing here, but I do not see how the Trump Org survives this without some sort of corrupt deal overseas. But even that seems far-fetched. Instead, it may be the biggest real estate corp bankruptcy in history..../14

......and given that those of us who covered his business for decades - back when he was a democrat/reform party/whoever would have him - and always knew he was a crook, all I can say is, what the hell took so long?

[noblepa]

No phucknut, he got curious when Trump practically bragged about all the criming he was getting away with.

And, evading tax on over $1M in income is hardly a "minor" crime. Many people have gone to jail for a lot less.

[jcolvin2]

Yes, Weisselberg has added a tax expert and former IRS senior official to his team. Weisselberg needs someone to advise him who really knows what is likely to happen legally. An advisor who really knows tax law and Weisselberg's circumstances may at some point say "Mr. Weisselberg, you are truly f**cked. My advice is to fold your defense and flip to reduce your jail time."

For tax counsel, Weisselberg hired Bryan Skarlatos of Kostelanetz & Fink, a firm that was largely responsible for creating the modern federal criminal tax practice. Weisselberg could not have hired a more capable tax attorney.

I suspect the "former IRS senior official" is Don Fort, who was at the helm of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division for several years before departing for the private sector and joining K&F.

[much ado]

No phucknut, he got curious when Trump practically bragged about all the criming he was getting away with.

And, evading tax on over $1M in income is hardly a "minor" crime. Many people have gone to jail for a lot less.

For example, Richard Hatch, who won $1 million on the first season of Survivor and failed to pay income tax on his winnings.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_H ... ontestant)

In 2006, Hatch was convicted of tax evasion and served 51 months in prison. Hatch served another nine-month sentence in 2011 for a probation violation.

ETA: Just noticed why he got the addtional nine months in prision...

After being released from prison, he later served an additional nine months in prison for not amending his 2000 and 2001 tax returns.

What a dumbass.

[chancery]

I understand Goldman's caution but what is the tax expert going to say? It's perfectly legal to keep two sets of books and not declare what is clearly income on one's taxes? It's perfectly legal to reside in NYC and not pay NYC income taxes? I'm not a tax lawyer, but those things seem to be difficult to advance as defenses.

I agree that there don't seem to be any obvious defenses, but it's a criminal prosecution for tax evasion. I'd hire a specialist; wouldn't you? Plus, he's facing potential seven-figure civil liabilities to the state and the federal government. He needs expert representation for defense or settlement.

For an ordinary defendant, I believe that the criminal issues (imprisonment and fines) and civil issues (back taxes, interest, and penalties) typically need to be resolved in separate proceedings involving different governmental organizations. A local DA (or US Attorney) can't ordinarily tell tax authorities what to do.

Here, it seems plausible (although I'm just speculating), that Weisselberg might have quite a bit of leverage to cut a good deal on the civil side as part of a cooperation package, and so he can't defer resolution of the civil issues. Everything would have to be nailed down beforehand.

So I don't know if the additional staffing on his defense team tells us much either way about Weisselberg's strategy, except that he knows he's got trouble and hasn't run out of funds for legal fees.

[sugar magnolia]

I've seen several references to the law being "vague" in some way, so maybe he has hired experts to argue some alternate, but legal, theory of how he filed the taxes. He's still presumed innocent and obviously has some sort of plan to fight the accusations. The best way to do that is to bring in tax specialists I would think.

[filly]

The only question I’ve read is that in some specific cases the tuition payments may not have been fully taxable but if the DA proves the rest of the circumstances in the indictment those legitimate circumstances seem less probable.

Of course any criminal defense lawyer would hire a tax specialist but I don’t really view it same way Goldman does. Also that’s gonna cost Weisselberg (or whoever is paying his legal bills) more money. And legal fees add up quickly and I hope these lawyers are keeping a huge retainer on deck.

[chancery]

Golly.

New York State’s Trump Investigation: An analysis of the reported facts and applicable law

Here's report written by Norman Eisen, a law professor, and a couple more experienced lawyers, published by, of all people, The Brookings Institution.

https://www.brookings.edu/research/new- ... cable-law/

It's 60 pages long, which seems like overkill for a prosecution that's probably in its early stages.

Possibly very insightful. Or, possibly windbaggery. I haven't looked at it yet.

Edit: And I see that it was released on June 28, before the indictment, so it's likely already out-of-date.

[Luke]

Nice.

[Kendra]

[raison de arizona]

Nice.


https://twitter.com/JoyceWhiteVance/sta ... 3311972352

[noblepa]

In that Fox News clip, Don Jr. says his father paid for his (Senior) grandchildren's school.

Junior doesn't make it clear if the school was paid from senior's personal funds or from the Trump Organization's coffers. I would think that, if it was paid personally, it is probably not taxable. If the organization paid it, then it probably is.

So, its a rather vague admission.

Don't get me wrong. I think that senior probably did pay it from the organization's funds, but junior's "admission" doesn't really prove anything.

[Slim Cognito]

Considering trump paid his son's Boy Scout Dues ($8 yr?) from his charity, I'm going with he paid it out of the company funds.

[Chilidog]

Help me out here.

The indictment lists the Trump Organization as a defendant.

What exactly does this mean?

If the Trump Organization is found guilty, what judicial punishments can it face?