WP: NY AG sues Trump family over “persistent illegal conduct” at Trump Foundation

[LadySkinsFan]

He took the Fifth to all questions.

 

 

Edited August 10, 2022 by LadySkinsFan

[China]

3 minutes ago, LadySkinsFan said:

He took the Fifth to all questions.

 

 

 

[The Evil Genius]

 

[Califan007 The Constipated]

 

[TradeTheBeal!]

 

[Dan T.]

Four hundred and forty times. He answered one question - “what is your name?” - and then proceeded to plead the 5th 440 times over four hours. 

[China]

Judge Denies Ex-Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg’s Motions to Dismiss His Indictment

 

Denying the former Trump Organization chief financial officer’s motions to dismiss, a Manhattan judge set the stage for the upcoming trial of Allen Weisselberg on Friday.

 

Jury selection is now slated to begin on Monday, Oct. 24.

 

Given its proximity to the 2022 midterms, court will not be in session on Election Day.

 

Former President Donald Trump’s trusted accountant for nearly half a century, Weisselberg has been awaiting trial for more than a year on a battery of charges including conspiracy, grand larceny, criminal tax fraud, and falsifying business records. The Manhattan District Attorney’s office unsealed the 25-page indictment, which also named the Trump Corporation and Trump Payroll Corp. as co-defendant, in July 2021.

 

Trump Corp. and Trump Payroll Corp. succeeded in dismissing the fourth count of the indictment, criminal tax fraud in the fourth degree.

 

Prosecutors accuse Weisselberg of a 15-year scheme to defraud federal, New York State, and New York City tax authorities of $1.76 million in “off-the-books” compensation. These included $359,058 in tuition expenses for multiple family members, $196,245 for leases on his Mercedes Benz automobiles, $29,400 in unreported cash, and an unspecified amount in ad hoc personal expenses, according to his indictment.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Cooked Crack]

 

The Trump org is really on some mob ****

 

[Cooked Crack]

 

[China]

Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg will testify against company as part of plea deal: source

 

The Trump Organization’s longtime chief financial officer will admit to conspiring with the Trump Organization and Trump Payroll Corporation in a 15-year tax fraud scheme while head of the company’s finances at a Manhattan Supreme Court hearing on Thursday, the Daily News has confirmed.

 

Allen Weisselberg is expected to criminally implicate Trump’s family real estate business when he pleads guilty to criminal tax fraud charges, a source familiar with the matter told The News on Wednesday.

 

As part of Weisselberg’s plea deal — for which he’s expected to serve five months on Rikers Island — Weisselberg will agree to testify against the companies when they goes to trial in October if he is called as a witness, according to a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

 

Former President Donald Trump has not been named as a defendant in the Manhattan district attorney’s case, which stems from a broader probe into his business practices, and Weisselberg’s plea agreement contains no provision relating to cooperating against Trump, the source said.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

I guess Weisselberg testifying has Trump spooked.  I think he'll need some of those seasoned lawyers he's been looking for, because I don't think this will fly:

 

Trump Appellate Brief Argues New York Attorney General’s Investigation into Trump Org Finances Is ‘Unconstitutional in its Entirety’

 

An attorney for former President Donald Trump filed a motion in federal appellate court this week seeking to put the kibosh on New York State’s multi-year investigation into allegedly “fraudulent or misleading” asset valuations for Trump Organization properties.

 

The investigation by New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) has not resulted in an actual case being filed so far, but rather, a fairly limited discovery-focused process that has largely dealt with enforcing subpoenas in order to gather information. Conversely, however, James’ work has been put to use in a separate, but related, criminal investigation into Trump Organization tax practices being conducted by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

 

In the Tuesday filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, attorney Alina Habba argues the AG’s investigation is both “harassing and overreaching.” The 45-page brief asks the court to step in so as to protect the 45th president’s rights and “to curtail this improperly motivated and unconstitutional abuse of process.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[PokerPacker]

For only a 5 month sentence, he'd better be giving some damn good testimony.

[China]

Allen Weisselberg, a Top Trump Executive, Pleads Guilty in Tax Scheme

 

One of Donald J. Trump’s most trusted executives pleaded guilty on Thursday to conspiring with Mr. Trump’s company to carry out a long-running tax scheme, an admission that painted a damning picture of the former president’s family business but did not advance a broader investigation into the man himself.

 

As part of the plea deal with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, the executive, Allen H. Weisselberg, is required to testify at the company’s trial if prosecutors choose to call on him, and to admit his role in conspiring with Mr. Trump’s company to carry out the tax scheme. That testimony could tilt the scales against the company, the Trump Organization, as it prepares for an October trial related to the same accusations.

 

“Yes, your honor,” Mr. Weisselberg said again and again in response to detailed questions from the judge, Juan Merchan, who asked whether he and the Trump Organization committed the criminal conduct underlying each of the 15 counts.

 

Under the terms of the plea deal, if Mr. Weisselberg testifies truthfully at the upcoming trial, he will receive a five-month sentence and likely serve as little as 100 days with time credited for good behavior. Mr. Weisselberg, who was facing up to 15 years in prison, must also pay nearly $2 million in taxes, penalties and interest after accepting lavish tax-free perks including leased Mercedes-Benzes, an apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and private school tuition for his grandchildren.

 

The plea deal does not require Mr. Weisselberg to cooperate with the district attorney’s broader criminal investigation of Mr. Trump, and his admissions will not implicate the former president.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[LadySkinsFan]

11 minutes ago, China said:

Allen Weisselberg, a Top Trump Executive, Pleads Guilty in Tax Scheme

 

One of Donald J. Trump’s most trusted executives pleaded guilty on Thursday to conspiring with Mr. Trump’s company to carry out a long-running tax scheme, an admission that painted a damning picture of the former president’s family business but did not advance a broader investigation into the man himself.

 

As part of the plea deal with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, the executive, Allen H. Weisselberg, is required to testify at the company’s trial if prosecutors choose to call on him, and to admit his role in conspiring with Mr. Trump’s company to carry out the tax scheme. That testimony could tilt the scales against the company, the Trump Organization, as it prepares for an October trial related to the same accusations.

 

“Yes, your honor,” Mr. Weisselberg said again and again in response to detailed questions from the judge, Juan Merchan, who asked whether he and the Trump Organization committed the criminal conduct underlying each of the 15 counts.

 

Under the terms of the plea deal, if Mr. Weisselberg testifies truthfully at the upcoming trial, he will receive a five-month sentence and likely serve as little as 100 days with time credited for good behavior. Mr. Weisselberg, who was facing up to 15 years in prison, must also pay nearly $2 million in taxes, penalties and interest after accepting lavish tax-free perks including leased Mercedes-Benzes, an apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and private school tuition for his grandchildren.

 

The plea deal does not require Mr. Weisselberg to cooperate with the district attorney’s broader criminal investigation of Mr. Trump, and his admissions will not implicate the former president.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

This last paragraph is concerning because he should be forced to testify truthfully in any criminal trial involving the company too. Civil lawsuit is nothing and he's getting off lightly considering he's the money man in this Trump RICO organization. At this point, you can't divide Trump's criminality in his business with his criminality in his political career.

[China]

Trump's companies may be done.

 

“Devastating blow”: Weisselberg’s agreement to testify could mean “death penalty” for Trump Org.

 

Under the deal, Weisselberg would testify against the Trump Corporation and the Trump Payroll Corporation at trial, which is scheduled to begin in October, according to Rolling Stone. Weisselberg is reportedly willing to provide testimony admitting to the same crimes as in his trial but would not cooperate with the investigation into the company.

 

A source told Rolling Stone that Weisselberg's agreement to testify does not mean that prosecutors will necessarily call him to testify. But his potential testimony would "pose a severe threat to Trump's companies," the outlet reported, potentially securing a conviction against his business and "potentially leading to its demise."

 

Whether or not Trump was directly involved with the tax scheme, the guilty plea is "serious and significant," Rebecca Roiphe, a New York Law School professor, told Rolling Stone. Though Trump is not currently facing charges, the testimony could have "direct consequences on his business and his work and his business' ability to continue in New York," she said.

 

"Criminal liability is usually a pretty big deal for a corporation— it's often a death sentence," she explained. "The penalties could be so significant that the organization cannot survive past it. The penalties can be so high the company just doesn't exist, and it could ultimately end in the dissolution of the company."

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

 

That's on top of this:

 

NY AG may seek "corporate death penalty" against Trump Organization after he pleads the 5th: report

 

"In the coming weeks or even days, the AG is expected to file a massive, long-threatened 'enforcement action' — essentially a multi-hundred-page lawsuit against the Trumps and his Manhattan-based business," Business Insider reported Wednesday. "Fines and back taxes, however, may be the least of what Trump's facing. James has signaled she will also seek the dissolution of the business itself under New York's so-called corporate death penalty -- a law that allows the AG to seek to dissolve businesses that operate 'in a persistently fraudulent or illegal manner.'"

 

The publication interviewed Tristan Snell, who successfully shut down Trump University under the state's corporate death penalty law.

 

"This cuts right to the crown jewel of his real estate portfolio," Snell said.

 

"It's everything, because at issue is Trump Tower [where the Trump Organization is headquartered in Manhattan], at issue is 40 Wall Street, which is one of his most beloved properties and probably one of the more valuable ones," Snell explained. "All of his golf courses are also at stake, so it's a big deal."

 

On Twitter, Snell explained why it was so important that Trump took the Fifth Amendment.

 

"This is a civil case — so the court can draw an inference of liability. This is exactly what the AG was hoping to achieve. The case is now even stronger," he wrote.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Califan007 The Constipated]

 

 

[China]

“DEPOSING TRUMP IS LOOKING FOR THE ICING ON THE CAKE”: LETITIA JAMES’S TRUMP INVESTIGATION IS NEARING ITS ENDGAME

 

Apparently, Donald Trump has serious Florida-based legal trouble, something about running off with more than 300 classified government documents. And down in Georgia, an investigation of the former president’s attempt to “find” votes in the 2020 presidential election is gaining speed. But the flurry of recent headlines does not mean that New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, has forgotten about the state’s most famous former resident.

 

To the contrary. After more than three years spent digging through millions of documents and compiling dozens of hours of depositions, all signs seem to point toward James taking legal action against Trump soon, probably in the next four to six weeks. The attorney general’s press office declined to comment on whether a decision has been made about next steps.

 

James might first offer Trump and the Trump Organization a settlement deal, though his history suggests there’s little chance he’d accept. The AG’s next move would likely be a massive civil lawsuit. The case would presumably center on allegations that Trump and his company falsely raised or lowered the valuation of real estate holdings in order to obtain loans or reduce tax bills. Trump’s legal team recently filed a motion asking a federal appellate court to “curtail this improperly motivated and unconstitutional abuse of process,” but previous rulings have allowed James to forge ahead. Lawyers for Trump did not respond to requests for comment.

 

The attorney general checked off one major remaining box in the investigation two weeks ago, when Trump, after fighting through the courts for months, finally sat for a deposition. “Once you’re interviewing the principals, you’ve already arrived at the conclusion that there’s more than enough evidence to build a case and prove that the defendants are liable,” Tristan Snell says. Snell was the prosecutor who, while working for James’s attorney general predecessor, constructed the civil lawsuit against Trump University that led to a $25 million settlement. “Deposing Trump is looking for the icing on the cake,” he says. “This was an attempt to turn a high-percentage case into an even-higher-percentage case.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Experts say a Trump-backed charity is pushing the boundaries of tax law

 

In a Washington, D.C., townhouse just blocks from the U.S. Capitol, multiple figures connected to the failed plot to overturn the 2020 election have coalesced around an increasingly influential organization: the nonprofit Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI).

 

Among those at the center of the group are former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former Trump campaign lawyer Cleta Mitchell. Both Meadows and Mitchell have been subpoenaed by a grand jury as part of a Georgia District Attorney's investigation into Trump's effort to overturn the election.

 

An NPR review of social media accounts, campaign finance records, and leaked audio suggests that CPI may be risking legal trouble as well over its tax-exempt status. Experts in tax law told NPR that the nonprofit group appears to be pushing the boundaries of charity law by closely entwining itself with explicitly Republican and pro-Trump political organizations.

 

"If I was looking at this as an IRS agent or as an outside lawyer for that matter, I would say there's enough here that I want to do some digging," said Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer, an expert in nonprofit law at the University of Notre Dame School of Law. "There are definitely yellow flags here."

 

As an IRS-recognized charity, CPI is exempt from certain federal, state and local taxes. That status also gives CPI's donors the lucrative benefit of deducting their contributions at tax time. But, as Mitchell herself has noted, those benefits come with some strings attached by federal law.

 

"We are a non-partisan, educational, charitable organization," Mitchell told the audience for a CPI "Election Integrity Summit" in March. "We don't endorse candidates. We don't endorse political parties."

 

Mitchell's comment that day about CPI remaining nonpartisan was conspicuous given the event's programming, which involved a collaboration between CPI, the Republican National Committee, and other conservative groups.

 

The IRS has an "absolute" ban on charities from participating - both "directly" and "indirectly" - in any political candidates' campaigns.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Not sure where to put this:

 

House Oversight Committee reaches deal with Trump over financial records

 

The House Oversight Committee has reached a deal with former President Donald Trump to end litigation over Trump's financial records, according to a filing obtained by CNN.

 

In a press release following the filing, the committee claims this deal means that the former President's accounting firm, Mazars, will turn over Trump's financial records, but the filing does not specify the terms of the settlement.

The committee first subpoenaed Trump's financial records in April 2019, which set off a long battle over the documents.

"After numerous court victories, I am pleased that my Committee has now reached an agreement to obtain key financial documents that former President Trump fought for years to hide from Congress" House Oversight Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney said in the release.

 

"After facing years of delay tactics, the Committee has now reached an agreement with the former President and his accounting firm, Mazars USA, to obtain critical documents. These documents will inform the Committee's efforts to get to the bottom of former President Trump's egregious conduct and ensure that future presidents do not abuse their position of power for personal gain" Maloney added.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[EmirOfShmo]

 

 

Edited September 9, 2022 by EmirOfShmo

[Larry]

The suit was filed merely to generate a Fox story about the filing of the lawsuit. 
 

They never expected it to last longer than a fart in a tornado. 
 

Just like their lawsuits about the "stolen election". They never even made an effort to state a crime. 

[Dan T.]

^ ^ I can translate the judge’s ruling from legalese to plain English:

 

“Get this crap out of my courtroom.”

 

[China]

More that that, Trump's lawyers may be subject to sanction for filing such a piece of trash:

 

Quote

The judge said the evidence did not show any reason why Trump should be entitled to any of the relief he sought, and he cited a federal rule authorizing sanctions against lawyers who filed claims that aren’t supported by evidence or existing law.

 

“In presenting a pleading, an attorney certifies that it is not being presented for any improper purpose; that the claims are warranted under the law; and that the factual contentions have evidentiary support,” Middlebrooks wrote.

 

“By filing the Amended Complaint, Plaintiff’s lawyers certified to the Court that, to the best of their knowledge, ‘the claims, defenses, and other legal contentions are warranted by existing law or by a nonfrivolous argument for extending, modifying, or reversing existing law or for establishing new law,’ and that ‘the factual contentions have evidentiary support,’” the judge added. “I have serious doubts about whether that standard is met here.”

 

Link

[Bang]

On 9/1/2022 at 4:38 PM, China said:

Not sure where to put this:

 

House Oversight Committee reaches deal with Trump over financial records

 

The House Oversight Committee has reached a deal with former President Donald Trump to end litigation over Trump's financial records, according to a filing obtained by CNN.

 

 

 

Say, i bet i can grab this burning hot piece of iron and OWW!!!

 

Gosh, that burned!
Let me try it agaOWWW!

 

Damn! That **** is hot! I must not be doing it right..

OWWWW!!

 

 

****ing idiots.

They have reached a deal with a guy who honors NO deals, who lies and will not comply no matter how many times they 'order' him to do so.
Any guesses as to what happens when the stuff he made a deal to turn over never arrives?
A/ Nothing
B/ Nothing
C/ Nothing
D/ All of the above.

Hey everybody, just for fun, drop back in time a little over FOUR YEARS to the front of this thread, and see how it has been consistent in one thing,, that "uh oh, now they're gonna get it' never results in them getting anything, except more freedom to keep doing all of the things they are supposedly going to 'get it' over.

 

**** all this.

 

~Bang

 

[China]

N.Y. judge says he'll bar Trump Org.'s selective prosecution claim

 

A Manhattan judge indicated Monday he won't allow attorneys for the Trump Organization to accuse Manhattan prosecutors of targeting the company out of animus for former President Donald Trump.

 

New York County Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan said at an at-times testy hearing, six weeks before the company's Oct. 24 fraud and tax evasion trial is scheduled to begin, that he expects arguments and evidence to focus on the charges.

 

"I will not allow you in any way to bring up a selective prosecution claim, or claim this is some sort of novel prosecution," Merchan said, later adding that he "will have very little patience at trial any questions that are not in a good faith basis."

 

An attorney for the Trump Organization said earlier during the hearing that she thinks that's why prosecutors investigated the company's former chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg. 

 

"I believe that Mr. Weisselberg believes he was targeted because of his association with Mr. Trump," said the attorney, Susan Necheles.

 

The company and Weisselberg were charged in July 2021 with more than a dozen counts of fraud and tax evasion. Weisselberg's guilty plea set off a series of fraught exchanges between defense attorneys and prosecutors about deadlines related to declaring which experts and evidence will be usable at trial.

 

Those issues spilled into the courtroom Monday in a series of heated exchanges between Trump Organization attorneys, prosecutors and Merchan.

 

Necheles said Weisselberg's admission of guilt changed the calculus for for the company's defense, leading her to withdraw a previous notice sent to prosecutors about the experts the defense intends to call.

 

"We are now restructuring our defense and we are determining what experts we will be calling, and we may have to call a new expert," Necheles said.

 

An assistant district attorney accused the company of trying to delay the trial, which is scheduled to begin Oct. 24, "into November."

 

Merchan, who appeared miffed about Trump Organization attorneys asking for extra time to file certain motions, doubled down on the Oct. 24 start date.

 

"One of the accusations is that the defense is trying to stall, you know, it's starting to feel that way a little bit," Merchan said.

 

Merchan gave both sides one week to file new motions and responses. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Sept. 28.

 

Click on the link for the full article