Tag: Trump grift

Trump legal risks mount with New York moves

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Former President Trump‘s legal woes are mounting with the news that state and local prosecutors in New York are conducting a joint criminal investigation into his company.

It’s unclear exactly what charges the New York attorney general and the Manhattan district attorney are exploring, but the announcement signals an escalation in the offices’ investigations that have at times spilled into public view in recent years. The rare move to publicly announce a criminal probe is also fueling Republican efforts to discredit it.

The news comes three months after Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. (D) obtained Trump’s tax returns, ending a protracted legal battle that twice reached the Supreme Court over a grand jury subpoena. Continue reading.

Seven questions about New York’s investigations of Trump

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On Tuesday, New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) announced a significant change in her long-running investigation of former president Donald Trump’s business practices.

Previously, her investigation had been a civil one ― if James found wrongdoing, the worst she could do was sue Trump or his businesses.

On Tuesday, however, James’s office said in a statement it also was pursuing a criminal investigation, meaning that James could eventually file criminal charges against someone in Trump’s orbit. A spokesman for the attorney general’s office said James is working with Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance (D), who has been conducting a separate criminal investigation into Trump’s finances since 2018. Continue reading.

Prosecutors just gained ‘a lot of leverage’ on Trump

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On CNN Wednesday, former federal prosecutor Laura Coates explained how the newly coordinated criminal investigations by the Manhattan district attorney and New York attorney general into the Trump Organization escalate the legal problems for former President Donald Trump and his family.

“We treat your criminal sections and civil sections in the justice system differently,” said Coates. “Not because we don’t value above-board behavior, but because the penalties at stake are, one, liberty and the other a check being written. To combine these two raises the stakes for the attorneys. And to combine it from not only the AG’s office in New York, but also in Manhattan — it says that this is something far more expansive and there is some indication talking about criminal investigations. Some indication that it merits there to be a penalty of the deprivation of liberty as well.”

“It’s interesting that the New York attorney general’s office didn’t explain what prompted the change and why they released it publicly,” said anchor Poppy Harlow. “They don’t have to do that. What do you think?” Continue reading.

Investigation of Trump Organization now exploring possible criminal conduct, N.Y. attorney general’s office says

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NEW YORK — New York Attorney General Letitia James’s investigation into the Trump Organization is now considered a criminal matter, James’s office said Tuesday night, noting that officials with the former president’s company were recently apprised of the development.

“We have informed the Trump Organization that our investigation into the company is no longer purely civil in nature,” said Fabien Levy, a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office. “We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan DA. We have no additional comment at this time.”

The attorney general’s notification to the Trump Organization suggested a cooperative relationship has developed between investigators working for James and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., whose office has been heading a criminal probe into the company and its officers since 2018. Both officials are Democrats. A person familiar with the matter, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, said the district attorney was not specifically mentioned in James’s letter to Trump’s company. Continue reading.

Trump Organization Accused Of Abusing U.K.’s COVID-19 Furlough Program

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The Trump Organization has received up to £575,000 through the U.K. job retention program, with at least £110,000 claimed while the former president was still in office. Critics see this as an abuse of the U.K.’s coronavirus furlough program.

Union officials are calling for an investigation of the scandal by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), and have lodged complaints about Trump Turnberry’s “all-out assault on jobs and conditions.”

The former director of the Office of Government Ethics under the Obama and Trump administrations called the Trump Organization “disgraceful” for making U.K. taxpayers “prop up” Trump’s business interests. Continue reading.

Trump Will Be Able To Keep His ‘Save America’ PAC’s Spending Secret Another 3 Months

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Trump raised some $76 million after the election under false pretenses, and FEC rules will let him wait until July to say how he’s spending it.

WASHINGTON ― Former President Donald Trump, who raised some $76 million after last November’s election under false pretenses, will be able to keep how he is spending that money secret until mid-July, thanks to Federal Election Commission rules.

Trump claimed in dozens of texts and emails to his small-dollar donor list that money he was collecting for his “Save America” committee would be used to challenge the results in states he had lost to Democrat Joe Biden and also to help the Republican candidates in two Georgia Senate runoffs.

In fact, he spent none of that money for those purposes and instead kept it for his committee, which can spend it on almost anything he wants, including paying his personal expenses or even giving him an eight-figure salary. Continue reading.

Trump executive’s son was given sizable salary, generous perks, documents show

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NEW YORK — Former president Donald Trump’s company paid a skating rink manager more than $200,000 in annual salary, $40,000 yearlybonuses and provided free company-owned apartments for his family, according to testimony of the employee, Barry Weisselberg, and his financial documents.

Such payments and perks, as well as other financial support provided to Weisselberg and his family, have drawn new scrutiny from Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. (D) as a potentially key component of his ongoing criminal investigation into the former president’s business activity and finances.

Barry Weisselberg is the son of Trump’s longtime confidant and chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, whose cooperation prosecutors are maneuvering to secure, a person familiar with the investigation said, as they evaluate whether there is sufficient evidence to charge Trump, or members of his family or inner circle. Like others, this person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. Continue reading.

Biographer anticipates Trump’s future will be much like his ‘disgrace-filled past’

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One of Donald Trump’s biographers, Michael D’Antonio, explained in a CNN.com op-ed that the former president was never going to disappear after he left the White House.

“Of course, some of the sprockets and springs are loose and broken,” D’Antonio said. “But the sputtering spectacle continues as Trump, along with his allies and enablers, fashion a post-presidency unlike any other. All you have to do is turn on the TV or check your news feed and there he and his minions are.”

He explained that Trump is blazing his own trail like a flaming meteor. While most presidents turn their lives into service and charity after leaving office, Trump has turned to investments and money-making ventures. Continue reading.

How Trump Steered Supporters Into Unwitting Donations

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Online donors were guided into weekly recurring contributions. Demands for refunds spiked. Complaints to banks and credit card companies soared. But the money helped keep Donald Trump’s struggling campaign afloat.

Stacy Blatt was in hospice care last September listening to Rush Limbaugh’s dire warnings about how badly Donald J. Trump’s campaign needed money when he went online and chipped in everything he could: $500.

It was a big sum for a 63-year-old battling cancer and living in Kansas City on less than $1,000 per month. But that single contribution — federal records show it was his first ever — quickly multiplied. Another $500 was withdrawn the next day, then $500 the next week and every week through mid-October, without his knowledge — until Mr. Blatt’s bank account had been depleted and frozen. When his utility and rent payments bounced, he called his brother, Russell, for help.

What the Blatts soon discovered was $3,000 in withdrawals by the Trump campaign in less than 30 days. They called their bank and said they thought they were victims of fraud. Continue reading.

N.Y. Seeks Trump Insider’s Records, in Apparent Bid to Gain Cooperation

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State prosecutors in Manhattan subpoenaed the personal bank records of the Trump Organization’s longtime C.F.O. and are scrutinizing gifts he received from the former president.

State prosecutors in Manhattan investigating former President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Organization have subpoenaed the personal bank records of the company’s chief financial officer and are questioning gifts he and his family received from Mr. Trump, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

In recent weeks, the prosecutors have trained their focus on the executive, Allen H. Weisselberg, in what appears to be a determined effort to gain his cooperation. Mr. Weisselberg, who has not been accused of wrongdoing, has overseen the Trump Organization’s finances for decades and may hold the key to any possible criminal case in New York against the former president and his family business.

Prosecutors working for the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., are examining, among other things, whether Mr. Trump and the company falsely manipulated property values to obtain loans and tax benefits. Continue reading.