Replies to post #46877 on Franklin, Andrews, Kramer & Edelstein

[scion]

Aaron Rupar @atrupar Eric Trump's defense of his company is that $3.5 million is really nbd. Also, Hunter Biden.

VIDEO

Eric Trump's defense of his company is that $3.5 million is really nbd. Also, Hunter Biden. pic.twitter.com/YOXHkdin5N

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 2, 2021

3:11 AM · Jul 2, 2021·SnapStream TV Search

THREAD

Eric Trump's defense of his company is that $3.5 million is really nbd. Also, Hunter Biden. pic.twitter.com/YOXHkdin5N

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 2, 2021

Gayla McGill @GaylaMcGill5 ·10h Replying to @atrupar

DJT is terrified that Eric may be subpoenaed by the Pros; 'the spare' is the furthest thing from a 'Rocket Surgeon' to begin w/+ factor in his lack of any filter & he'll be babbling about how, "We always paid our fair share; we kept an eye on the $$ to Rubles exchange to be sure"



Mrs. Betty Bowers @BettyBowers ·10h Replying to @atrupar

Bless his little heart. Someone tell Eric that neither "The amount we stole is hardly worth talking about" nor "There are people doing even worst crimes" are actual or effective legal defenses.

[scion]

The Daily 202: Trump Org allegedly kept spreadsheets of grift

By Olivier Knox National Political Correspondent and Anchor of The Daily 202
July 2, 2021 at 4:11 p.m. GMT+1
with Mariana Alfaro
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/02/daily-202-trump-org-allegedly-kept-spreadsheets-grift/

Imagine regularly engaging in potentially illegal activities online for years, and saving a detailed record of them in a computer folder marked “Red Flags.”

The indictment against former president Donald Trump’s eponymous business and its 73-year-old chief financial officer, unveiled yesterday, makes for riveting reading, partly because of its portrayal of scrupulously unscrupulous record-keeping.

One of the accusations against Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg, detailed on page nine, describes a relatively simple scheme for that executive to pocket cash he allegedly did not report to the Internal Revenue Service.

In the charging document’s narrative, the business cut checks to an employee, who cashed them, then gave the cash to Weisselberg.

“The Trump Corporation booked this cash as ‘Holiday Entertainment,’ but maintained internal spreadsheets showing the cash to be part of Weisselberg’s employee compensation,” the indictment says.

In another section, the indictment says the Trump Organization was paying Weisselberg’s rent, electricity, telephone services, Internet, cable TV and garage fees.

“These payments were not booked in the Trump Corporations’ general ledger as employee compensation, but were instead labeled and deducted as ‘rent expense’ in the general ledger. However, for certain years, the Trump Organization maintained internal spreadsheets that tracked the amounts it paid for Weisselberg’s rent, utility, and garage expenses.”

It goes on to say “[s]imultaneously, the Trump Organization reduced the amount of direct compensation that Weisselberg received in the form of checks or direct deposits to account for the indirect compensation that he received in the form of payments of rent, utility bills, and garage expenses.”

In another section, the indictment says, Weisselberg requested the Trump corporation pay for items for his homes and the apartment of one of his children.

“These requests included such items as new beds, flat-screen televisions, the installation of carpeting, and furniture for Weisselberg’s home in Florida.

When Weisselberg made such requests, the Trump Corporation issued checks to pay the expenses and tracked the payment of the expenses internally as part of Weisselberg’s annual compensation.”?

Those are just some of the things prosecutors detailed as they accused Trump’s business of a “scheme to defraud” the government and Weisselberg of larceny and tax fraud by ducking IRS payments on more than $1.7 million of income.

My colleagues Shayna Jacobs, David A. Fahrenthold, Josh Dawsey and Jonathan O’Connell report:

“In charging papers, prosecutors alleged that the Trump Organization effectively kept two sets of books. In one — for internal use — it carefully tallied the value of benefits given to executives as part of their compensation: apartments, cars, furniture, tuition payments, even money for holiday gifts.

But in the documents that the Trump Organization sent to tax authorities, prosecutors said, those benefits were omitted. Prosecutors said the result was that the Trump Organization and its executives avoided taxes on their full compensation: [Weisselberg], they said, avoided paying more than $900,000.”

How much trouble there is for Trump’s company and Weisselberg – both pleaded not guilty – isn’t clear.

Here’s Josh:

“Whether charges that his company evaded taxes by hiding payments to employees will do any political damage to Trump is unclear as he teases another presidential run in 2024 and looks to play a starring role in the 2022 midterm elections. He has retained the strong support of the Republican Party through a series of potentially damaging episodes, including bragging of sexual assault on tape, being impeached twice and spreading falsehoods about the 2020 election that served as fuel for the mob that attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6.

But Trump weathered those political storms by fighting back with the power and the staff of the White House behind him as well as a Twitter account that could immediately set the news agenda for the day. Those resources are now gone, testing Trump’s ability to turn allegations against him into political rallying cries. Current and former advisers also said that Trump was often most disturbed by threats to his businesses as opposed to political showdowns.”

And here are Shayna, David, Josh and Jonathan again:

“The most serious charge against Weisselberg, grand larceny in the second degree, carries a maximum sentence of five to 15 years in prison. But none of the charges carry a mandatory prison sentence, meaning that — even if convicted on all counts — he would not necessarily face jail.

If Trump's companies were convicted, they could face hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.”

Over at NPR, Andrea Bernstein, Ilya Marritz, Brian Naylor, and Hansi Lo Wang report:

“Of the charges levied in New York State Supreme Court, the most serious one facing Weisselberg is second-degree grand larceny, a Class C felony that carries a maximum sentence of 15 years.

The most serious charge for the Trump Organization is criminal tax fraud. A corporation found guilty of criminal tax fraud?under New York law?may be fined ‘double the amount of the underpaid tax liability resulting from the commission of the crime’ or $250,000” whichever is larger.

At the Associated Press, Bernard Condon reports:

“The criminal tax fraud charges unsealed against Donald Trump’s company Thursday are a blow to a business already reeling from canceled deals following the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on hotels and clubs.

The indictment may make it harder for Trump to strike new deals, get back loans and bring in new money to his sprawling and indebted business.”

Bernard strikes this cautionary note:

“Although some companies have collapsed after criminal indictments, others have survived or even thrived, including Bank of America, which was convicted for reckless mortgage lending practices. Others that received what’s called deferred criminal charges have done well afterward, including drug giant Bristol-Myers Squibb, which was accused of accounting fraud, and JPMorgan Chase & Co., which was caught up in connection with Bernard Madoff’s massive fraud.

Stocks in all three companies are at or near all-time highs.”


https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/02/daily-202-trump-org-allegedly-kept-spreadsheets-grift/

[scion]

BeachPretzel @BeachPretzel2 ·2h - Not looking good for Ivanka or dad: Rachel Maddow compares tax scheme described in Weisselberg indictment as involving "certain Trump Org executives, including but not limited to Weisselberg," to reporting in the NYT about payments made to Ivanka Trump.

Rachel Maddow compares the tax scheme described in the Allen Weisselberg indictment as involving "certain Trump Organization executives, including but not limited to Weisselberg," to reporting in the New York Times about payments made by Trump Org to Ivanka Trump, and talks with Susanne Craig, investigative reporter for the New York Times, and Mary Trump, the niece of Donald Trump, for insights.
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/tax-scheme-outlined-in-weisselberg-indictment-echoes-nyt-reporting-on-ivanka-trump-payouts-115880517926

7:51 PM · Jul 2, 2021·Twitter Web App

THREAD
https://twitter.com/BeachPretzel2/status/1411034745362915333

[scion]

The Family Secrets Fueling the Trump Organization Indictment

Jose Pagliery
Mon, 12 July 2021, 9:11 am·7-min read
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/family-secrets-fueling-trump-organization-081114422.html

While the Manhattan District Attorney’s office undertook a years-long, high-stakes battle to obtain Donald Trump’s tax records—twice returning to the Supreme Court—some of the most damning evidence was quietly in the possession of someone who was more than willing to turn it over: the ex-daughter-in-law of a top Trump Organization executive.

Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s longtime chief financial officer, has always been key to unlocking the finances of the Trump family business. For years, prosecutors have been looking for documents that would show what exiled insiders like Trump’s ex-consigliere Michael Cohen have claimed: that the Trump Organization was fudging numbers and dodging taxes.

What investigators didn’t know was that the proof was in the hands of Jennifer Weisselberg, the woman once married to Barry Weisselberg, the son of Allen Weisselberg. And it wasn’t until November 2020 that city and state investigators connected with her to acquire the evidence.

The Daily Beast has obtained some of the records that, according to Ms. Weisselberg and her lawyer, have proved pivotal to last week’s indictment of the Trump Organization CFO.

Corporate Perks

The top finance executive at the Trump Organization was indicted for dodging taxes by receiving pay in unaccounted corporate perks. Among them: redirecting his salary to cover tuition payments for his grandkids.

As prosecutors would discover, Barry Weisselberg explained it all in sworn testimony he made during a deposition in his divorce case in August 2018.

Grandpa Weisselberg paid more than $50,000 a year for each of the two kids to attend a top-rated private academy, the Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School. He’d been doing it for at least six years, Barry Weisselberg told his wife’s lawyer, Clifford Petroske.

New York investigators would later ask Jennifer Weisselberg about that financial arrangement, according to two people in the room. They said prosecutors’ eyes widened when she explained that Trump himself would sign a check that she would hand deliver to the school.

That detail made its way into page seven of last week’s indictment: “as part of the scheme to defraud, Trump Corporation personnel, including Weisselberg, arranged for tuition expenses for Weisselberg’s family members to be paid by personal checks drawn on the account of and signed by Donald J. Trump.”

In the indictment, the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. noted that tuition payments “constituted employee compensation and taxable income to Allen Weisselberg,” but it claims he hadn’t reported that additional $359,058 in his taxes over the years.

Luxury Living On A Budget

The indictment also mentions “a family member” of the CFO who took part in “the scheme to defraud” the government by getting a company apartment—again, without reporting it on personal income taxes.

This, too, stemmed from the Barry-Jennifer divorce case. Investigators found that the CFO’s son, a fellow Trump Organization employee in charge of its Wollman ice skating rink at Central Park, was keeping his official salary artificially low. In his divorce case, Barry Weisselberg testified that he didn’t even get a monetary raise in years, and according to investigators, he received the extra compensation in the form of fringe benefits.

The documents lay it out. Barry and Jennifer Weisselberg’s joint 2010 tax return lists his combined “wages, salaries, and tips” at $132,811. In New York, that’s enough for a couple to live in a comfortable one-bedroom apartment in Queens with a view of the city.

But in actuality, the Weisselbergs were staying at the ritzy 100 Central Park South, premium real estate at a coveted spot in the heart of Manhattan. The cost of living at the Trump-owned building is several times higher than what Weisselberg could afford on that salary, where monthly rent nowadays ranges from $5,300 to $20,000.

The answer? Donald Trump picked up the tab for more than six years.

“It was a corporate apartment, so we didn’t have rent,” Barry Weisselberg said in his deposition.

His wife’s lawyer kept pressing with questions to reveal the value of this luxurious corporate perk.

“What would the rent have been if that apartment would have been rented to a third party?” Petroske asked.

“I have no idea,” Barry Weisselberg replied.

When asked whether he’d reported the apartment perk on his taxes from 2005 to 2011, he said he didn’t “recall.”

This is the same arrangement that the longtime Trump ice rink manager had for his next place: a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan’s expensive Upper East Side, on the same block as the Trump Plaza building.

In his divorce deposition, Barry Weisselberg described this other spot as “a corporate apartment” and said he simply didn’t know who was paying the rent, if it were being paid at all.

In the indictment, prosecutors said that second apartment also “constituted income” that should have been taxes, but that the Trump Organization “intentionally failed to do so.”

Barry Weisselberg was not charged in last week’s indictment, but the investigation is ongoing and the government could still target him. It’s a looming threat that could be understood as a strategy: applying additional pressure on the CFO, so that he cooperates with law enforcement to spare his son from the probe.

All The Way To The Top

The Manhattan District Attorney and New York Attorney General, which have struck a rare partnership to prosecute this together, have hinted that there’s more to come. Questions asked of witnesses, who spoke to The Daily Beast on condition of anonymity, show that investigators are interested in other executives as well.

And as the current case centers on questions about untaxed “fringe benefits,” the DA and AG will have to prove who tweaked salaries—and whether they knew about tax rules.

Once again, Jennifer Weisselberg’s divorce case shows the path.

Barry Weisselberg’s testified that his pay—which remained flat for “numerous years” while the corporate perks added up—was decided by his own father, Allen Weisselberg, and Trump’s Chief Operating Officer, Matthew Calamari.

Trump’s bodyguard-turned-COO was not named in the indictment, nor has he been charged with a crime. But investigators are probing Calamari’s activity, according to two people familiar with the investigation.

Prosecutors also have reason to examine Trump’s involvement more closely as well. In his divorce testimony, Barry Weisselberg made clear that his pay was once determined by the head honcho himself.

“Personally Donald Trump would make that decision?” his wife’s lawyer asked.

“Yes,” Barry Weisselberg responded.

Trump only stopped personally overseeing the skating rink manager’s pay when Trump became president of the United States, Barry Weisselberg claimed. If true, that would rope in Trump, who called himself “king of the tax code” for years and is now trying to walk that back and play dumb.

A Familiar Name

In the several boxes of evidence that investigators received from Jennifer Weisselberg, they came across one name they knew well: Donald Bender.

For years, the DA’s office had been seeking Trump’s tax returns held at his trusted outside accounting firm, Mazars USA. The Trump Organization had them prepared by Bender, a partner at Mazars USA’s Long Island office, and always in close consultation with Allen Weisselberg, according to a source familiar with the arrangement.

Jennifer Weisselberg’s records show that Bender also prepared the couple’s taxes back in 2009 and 2010, when he was at a previous iteration of the firm.

Jennifer Weisselberg’s lawyer, Duncan Levin, credited his client with gifting investigators a mountain of evidence.

“Jen has shown a great deal of bravery in coming forward with the information that she has,” he said. “She has been 100 percent cooperative with prosecutors for many months. She’s met with prosecutors more than a half dozen times, and has really done a thorough job of culling through a huge volume of materials to give to prosecutors. I’m very confident she is a pivotal witness to the district attorney’s office and in large measure responsible for where things stand today.”

Jennifer Weisselberg told The Daily Beast that her guiding principle was the example that her actions would set for her kids.

“Justice matters to me,” she said. “I always wanted to teach my kids right from wrong. Accountability. And that if you don’t cheat and lie, you can still succeed with dignity.”

Read more at The Daily Beast.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-family-secrets-fueling-the-trump-organization-indictment?source=articles&via=rss

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/family-secrets-fueling-trump-organization-081114422.html