Guest views are now limited to 12 pages. If you get an "Error" message, just sign in! If you need to create an account, click here.

Jump to content
  • CRYPTO REWARDS!

    Full endorsement on this opportunity - but it's limited, so get in while you can!

Supreme Court Won't Halt Turnover Of Trump's Tax Records


Recommended Posts

8 minutes ago, nstoolman1 said:

It is called 

Rewarding good employees.

 

She has an axe to grind.

 

It basically says that in the article.  Now if rewarding a good employee, as you put it, is truly the case, then the house must be claimed on taxes as a fringe benefit or part of salary, though I'm no tax attorney....For her part, nasty divorces can be that way, particularly when one side has unlimited legal resources and can simply wait for the other side to go broke.

 

GO RV, then BV

  • Like 1
  • Downvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Shabibilicious said:

 

It basically says that in the article.  Now if rewarding a good employee, as you put it, is truly the case, then the house must be claimed on taxes as a fringe benefit or part of salary, though I'm no tax attorney....For her part, nasty divorces can be that way, particularly when one side has unlimited legal resources and can simply wait for the other side to go broke.

 

GO RV, then BV

 

Not necessarily, If it is considered a gift, there is no need to claim it as income.

 

For her part, she must have first hand knowledge, hearsay is inadmissible as evidence.

 

.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Reuters

‘Next phase’ of criminal probe into Trump finances: Finding witnesses

 
 
 
60558aaf7c853724bf4e62ee_o_U_v2.jpg
Scroll back up to restore default view.
Jason Szep and Peter Eisler
Mon, March 22, 2021, 6:02 AM
 
 

By Jason Szep and Peter Eisler

(Reuters) - Investigators in a criminal probe of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s real-estate business are combing through millions of pages of newly acquired records with an eye toward identifying witnesses who can bring the documents to life for a jury, say two people familiar with the probe.

Some of the case’s key figures are well-known. Trump’s former attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen, met on Friday with prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, his eighth such interview. And District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr’s team is interested in getting testimony from the Trump Organization’s long time chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, according to the two people familiar with the investigation.

 

But a growing universe of people, institutions and agencies are being scrutinized by Vance’s prosecutors as potential witnesses in the case.

Prosecutors are looking to gather information and testimony from bankers, bookkeepers, real-estate consultants and others close to the Trump Organization who could provide insights on its dealings, according to interviews and court filings. The process of identifying all witnesses and targets could take months.

“The next phase is identifying targets” for subpoenas and testimony, said one person familiar with the case.

Vance has not accused Trump or his associates of wrongdoing but is examining, among other things, whether property values were manipulated to reduce Trump’s taxes or obtain other economic benefits. The case is being heard by a grand jury that will decide whether there is evidence to indict Trump or his associates.

Vance’s investigators need insiders who can provide the narrative behind any conflicting numbers on Trump’s financial records and testify to Trump’s knowledge and intent, said former prosecutors of white-collar fraud cases.

“Even in the most heavily document-dependent case, you need witnesses to tell the story,” said Reed Brodsky, a longtime white-collar defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor.

The Supreme Court forced Trump’s longtime accountants Mazars USA to comply with a subpoena on March 1. Since then, investigators have poured through Trump’s tax filings, business documents and internal correspondence, looking for discrepancies between information provided to creditors and data given to tax authorities, said two people familiar with the probe.

Forensic accounting specialists at FTI Consulting Inc, retained by Vance, are helping analyze the tax records, said a source with knowledge of the matter.

Vance’s investigation is one of two known criminal probes of the former president. Reuters has identified four other ongoing investigations involving Trump and at least 17 active lawsuits.

A lawyer for Trump declined to comment on the probes.

In Vance’s investigation, Mark Pomerantz, a former federal prosecutor hired last month as a special assistant, is leading the interviews with some witnesses. Pomerantz, 69, prosecuted Gambino crime family boss John Gotti's son in the 1990s and is known for his expertise in white-collar crime.

ACCOUNTANTS, APPRAISERS

Several potential key figures in Vance’s investigation are current or former employees of outside companies - from financial and real estate consultants to legal advisors - with inside knowledge of Trump’s dealings, according to court filings and the two people familiar with the investigation.

Some performed crucial roles for many years, such as Mazars accountant Donald Bender. His signature is on the tax returns of the Donald J. Trump Foundation, which was dissolved in 2018 after a probe by the New York attorney general found that the organization misused charitable funds. Trump was ordered to pay more than $2 million in damages.

Bender has led the team managing Trump’s accounts at Mazars for more than a decade, court records show. He has worked for Mazars since 1981 and helps steer its real-estate practice. Mazars’ predecessor companies began working for Trump’s father, Fred, in the 1950s.

Bender was the only Mazars’ accountant singled out by name in Vance’s subpoena seeking records between 2011 and 2018, including "all communications" between Donald Bender and any representative of Trump’s businesses.

Illustrating Bender’s importance in Trump’s empire, Weisselberg testified in 2008 that, when Trump met with representatives from Forbes magazine to discuss his net worth, Weisselberg made sure Bender was there to help answer questions.

Bender and Mazars did not respond to requests for comment.

Real estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield Plc, which worked for the Trump Organization for many years, could also figure prominently in Vance’s investigation, legal experts say. Chicago-based Cushman was subpoenaed in a separate New York state attorney general’s probe of Trump’s company, and Cushman staff have given sworn testimony.

Both probes have shown keen interest in the values that Trump attached to conservation easements – agreements to preserve open space on his properties in exchange for tax breaks, court records show.

Based on a Cushman appraisal, Trump claimed a $21.1 million value for an easement at his Seven Springs estate north of New York City, based on the lost profits from luxury homes he could have built. Cushman was also the appraiser on a $25 million easement at a Trump golf course in Los Angeles that has been scrutinized in the attorney general’s investigation.

Cushman did not respond to a request for comment.

Vance’s investigators have also requested records and spoken with officials from Trump’s two biggest creditors, Deutsche Bank AG and Ladder Capital Corp, Reuters has previously reported. Both firms declined to comment.

THE INSIDERS

Vance’s investigation will likely rely heavily on Trump’s closest associates - people who can address the key question of what Trump was thinking when he made the financial claims now under scrutiny. Only a core group of Trump’s confidantes can address that state-of-mind question, which is critical to proving criminal intent.

They include Weisselberg, 73, who began working for Trump’s father, Fred, in 1973. Legal experts and a source familiar with the investigation say prosecutors’ apparent goal is to convince Weisselberg to cooperate. Also under scrutiny are Weisselberg’s adult sons - one who has worked for the Trump Organization. The other son worked for Ladder Capital, though there’s no evidence he was involved in Ladder’s loans to Trump.

Vance has not said whether prosecutors are talking with Allen Weisselberg or his sons. None of the three Weisselbergs have been charged with wrongdoing. A lawyer for Allen Weisselberg declined to comment.

Jennifer Weisselberg - the former wife of Allen’s older son, Barry Weisselberg - told Reuters that she has spoken with Vance’s office five times since November. The day after the first interview, she said, DA investigators visited her to retrieve tax and financial records for her and her former husband.

She acknowledged that prosecutors have shown interest in an apartment in a Trump-owned building where she and her former husband lived rent-free for seven years - an arrangement that could have legal implications if it represented compensation not properly reported in tax filings.

Barry Weisselberg managed an ice-skating rink that Trump operates in Central Park. A lawyer representing him did not respond to a request for comment.

Jennifer Weisselberg said she believed her father-in-law would never testify against Trump voluntarily. She envisions Allen Weisselberg flipping only if he or his sons are facing prosecution. But no one, she said, knows more about Trump’s finances.

The most visible cooperator in the criminal investigation is Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer for nearly a decade. He is serving a three-year sentence after pleading guilty in 2018 to crimes including tax evasion, orchestrating “hush money” payments to two women who said they’d had affairs with Trump, and lying to Congress about negotiations over a proposed Trump development in Moscow that never materialized. Cohen is in home confinement due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump has attacked Cohen’s credibility by highlighting how he lied under oath. Legal experts say Trump’s attorneys could make similar arguments if Cohen becomes a key witness. At his sentencing, Cohen took "full responsibility" for his actions but claimed he made the payments at Trump’s direction.

Cohen told Reuters he has evidence to overcome any questions about his credibility. “Unfortunately for Trump, I have backed up each and every question posed by the district attorney’s office,” Cohen said, by providing “documentary evidence.”

If prosecutors can corroborate Cohen’s testimony, his story could be “very powerful before a jury,” said Brodsky, a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. “The government loves people who plead guilty to crimes, take the stand and say … ‘I participated in a crime with that person sitting right there at the defense table, Donald J. Trump.’”

 

https://news.yahoo.com/next-phase-criminal-probe-trump-100227005.html

 

GO RV, then BV

  • Like 1
  • Downvote 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
HuffPost

Ex-DOJ Official Says Trump's In 'Serious Trouble' After New Legal Filings

 
 
Ed Mazza
·Overnight Editor, HuffPost
Thu, April 1, 2021, 4:41 AM
 
 

Former President Donald Trump is in “serious trouble” as a result of a new lawsuit filed against him by two police officers injured in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, a former top government lawyer said.

“If you could short Donald Trump right now, it would be a good time to do so,” former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal said on MSNBC on Wednesday.

The federal lawsuit filed this week blames Trump for the physical and emotional injuries the officers incurred during the insurrection, which was egged on by the then-president and carried out by his supporters.

“Trump, by his words and conduct, directed the mob that stormed the Capitol and assaulted and battered James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby,” the lawsuit stated.

Two police officers who were injured in the Jan. 6 insurrection have now filed suit against former President Donald Trump. (Photo: The Washington Post via Getty Images)
 
Two police officers who were injured in the Jan. 6 insurrection have now filed suit against former President Donald Trump. (Photo: The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Last week, Trump claimed his supporters were “hugging and kissing” the police, but Katyal read an excerpt from the lawsuit that described what really happened:

“Officer Hemby was attacked relentlessly. He was bleeding from a cut located less than an inch from his eye. He had cuts and abrasions on his face and hands, and his body was pinned against a large metal door, fending off attacks.”

“So, when Donald Trump says that these folks were hugging and kissing the guards?” Katyal said. “My God. My God.”

Katyal also pointed out that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell “literally invited” the lawsuit earlier this year with his comments during the impeachment trial.

“President Trump is still liable for everything he did while in office,” McConnell said at the time. “He didn’t get away with anything yet. We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation.”

That, said Katyal, was why the lawsuit wasn’t surprising.

“I’ve been waiting for it,” he said. “The fact is, Donald Trump fomented violence. Even Liz Cheney said it.”

And because so many GOP figures have said Trump bears the blame for the assault, the suit can’t be easily dismissed as a political attack.

“Donald Trump is in serious trouble,” Katyal said, referring to the new lawsuit as well as other potential legal action. “And the difference between now and the past is that the Republican Party and senior officials in there are inviting this trouble now and saying that there’s merit to it.”

 

https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/neal-katyal-trump-serious-trouble-084116180.html

 

GO RV, then BV

  • Like 1
  • Downvote 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

National Review

NY Prosecutors Subpoenaed Trump Organization CFO’s Personal Bank Records

 
 
Brittany Bernstein
Wed, March 31, 2021, 4:23 PM
 
 
a7b36bf71e3400bb8dba80c5d0344cbe

New York State prosecutors investigating former President Donald Trump and the Trump Organization have subpoenaed the personal bank records of the company’s chief financial officer and are investigating gifts he and his family received from Trump, according to a new report.

According to the New York Times, Manhattan prosecutors have turned their attention toward Allen Weisselberg, who has overseen the company’s finances for decades. Sources told the Times prosecutors working for Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. seem to be working to gain Weisselberg’s cooperation in their investigation into whether Trump and the company falsely manipulated property values to receive loans and tax benefits.

Though Weisselberg has not been accused of wrongdoing, if prosecutors were to discover any possible illegal activity through a review of his personal finances, they could then use that information to push him to cooperate with the investigation.

Prosecutors are also looking to obtain another round of internal documents from the Trump Organization, including general ledgers from a number of its more than two dozen properties that the company did not turn over last year, according to the report. They have subpoenaed records from banks where Trump or the Trump Organization had accounts, such as JPMorgan Chase and Capital One, as well.

 

The developments come after the district attorney’s office obtained Trump’s tax records and other underlying financial documents in February after the Supreme Court ruled against the former president’s efforts to block Vance from receiving the financial information.

Trump has previously denied any wrongdoing, calling the investigation a politically motivated “fishing expedition.”

The probe is still investigating allegations that the Trump Organization played a role in doling out illegal hush-money payments in 2016 to two women who claimed they had affairs with Trump.

Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty in 2018 to violating campaign-finance laws in handing out the payments, which he said were made “at the direction of and with the knowledge of” Trump during his run for president in 2016.

Cohen later testified to Congress that Weisselberg was aware of the payments and even helped create a plan to mask the reimbursements. The federal prosecutors who charged Cohen did not accuse Weisselberg of wrongdoing, however.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ny-prosecutors-subpoenaed-trump-organization-202351356.html

 

GO RV, then BV

  • Like 1
  • Downvote 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does it concern anyone that these people are just looking for wrong doing without any evidence to support it? Seems like a big fishing expedition to me.  You would think after the colonoscopy that President Trump got from Mueller they would have found something already.

 

.

  • Thanks 2
  • Upvote 4
  • Pow! 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Week

The Trump Organization has lawyered up for Manhattan D.A. investigation

Peter Weber
Thu, April 8, 2021, 8:37 AM
 
 
39f888075f112d8f1396e2279f1c245a

Former President Donald Trump's company has hired Ronald Fischetti, an experience criminal defense lawyer, to represent it in the broad criminal investigation underway by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr's office, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday night. Fischetti, 84, and Trump Organization lawyer Alan Futerfas confirmed the hire, both telling the Journal they are pleased with the arrangement.

Vance's office is investigating potential bank, tax, and insurance fraud tied to Trump's properties in New York and Chicago. As the investigation heated up, Vance brought on a forensic accounting firm to go over Trump's tax and accounting records and hired former federal prosecutor Mark Pomerantz as special assistant district attorney. Fischetti and Pomerantz were law partners for about eight years in the 1980s. Pomerantz is "straight as an arrow," Fischetti told the Journal. "We are both professionals, so there won't be any problems."

People close to Trump and the Trump Organization reached out to several New York lawyers and alumni of the Manhattan D.A.'s office before landing on Fischetti, the Journal reports. "Many had a reputation for being aggressive advocates."

 

https://news.yahoo.com/trump-organization-lawyered-manhattan-d-123756111.html

 

GO RV, then BV

  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
  • Downvote 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
The Week

Trump plans to summer in New Jersey. That's potentially great news for New York prosecutors.

Peter Weber
Thu, May 13, 2021, 8:21 AM
 
 
ee6930fd209c2174494c4c07a739b9f8

If Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. indicts former President Donald Trump or his company on any number of financial misconduct charges, it will almost certainly be before he leaves office at the end of 2021. And Vance's life would be much easier if those charges are filed this summer, Politico's Playbook reports.

Trump is preparing to leave his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, and spend the summer at this golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. But "it isn't just the Florida heat he's leaving behind: He could lose a key piece of political protection," Politico says. Florida's statute on extraditions to other states includes an obscure clause that would appear to give Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), a Trump ally, the ability to intervene and potentially block any transfer to New York.

"New Jersey's extradition statute is similar to Florida's, giving the governor the power to investigate an out-of-state warrant," Politico reports. "But its governor is Democrat Phil Murphy, who is no fan of Trump's, and would not likely intervene to stop Trump's extradition." Palm Beach County law enforcement is preparing contingency plans in case Trump is indicted while staying at Mar-a-Lago, two top county officials tell Politico. But if an indictment is handed down over the summer, Florida officials are off the hook.

 

https://news.yahoo.com/trump-plans-summer-jersey-thats-122105998.html

 

GO RV, then BV

  • Like 1
  • Downvote 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Business Insider

Florida officials are preparing 'contingency plans' for a Trump indictment from New York, report says

 
Jake Lahut,Sonam Sheth
Thu, May 13, 2021, 8:53 AM
 
 
donald trump
 
President Donald Trump on September 23. MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
  • Palm Beach County officials in Florida are reportedly preparing for Trump to get indicted.

  • Politico Playbook described two officials as preparing for "thorny extradition issues."

  • Trump is facing scrutiny from the Manhattan district attorney. Prosecutors appear to be wrapping up.

As the Manhattan district attorney's criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump enters its final stages, officials in Florida are preparing for "thorny extradition issues that could arise" from a statute in the Sunshine State, Politico Playbook first reported on Thursday.

Two officials involved in the "contingency plans" told Politico that law-enforcement personnel in Palm Beach County were looking at what to do if Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.'s investigation results in an indictment while Trump is at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

State law allows Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis - a staunch Trump ally - to step in and investigate whether a "person ought to be surrendered" if they're indicted, Politico said.

Trump is residing at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, for the next few months.

 

If Trump were indicted while in New Jersey, extradition issues could prove less tricky because the state is led by Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, who would likely be less sympathetic to the one-term president.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that his perceived political foes are out to get him after his presidency and has expressed concern about several ongoing federal and state criminal investigations into his financial dealings. Insider previously reported that Trumpworld was largely shrugging off the Justice Department's investigation into the Capitol riot but saw more danger in Vance's inquiry and a separate investigation by the Fulton County District Attorney's Office in Georgia.

The New York investigation is examining whether the Trump Organization violated state laws when it facilitated hush-money payments to the adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, who said she had an affair with Trump in 2006. Vance's office secured a major victory earlier this year when the Supreme Court cleared the way for it to obtain Trump's closely held tax returns.

 

In March, legal experts said it looked as if Manhattan prosecutors were nearing the end of their investigation.

"They mean business now," one source told The New Yorker's Jane Mayer. The person said they believed that Vance's investigation had stagnated while Trump was in office and prosecutors were fighting a court battle to get his tax returns. But the source told Mayer that prosecutors' questions had become "very pointed - they're sharpshooting now, laser-beaming."

A former top deputy in Vance's office told Insider that Vance would likely want to make charging decisions before his retirement in December.

Preet Bharara, the former head of the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, made a similar point while speaking with John Banzhaf, a professor of public-interest law at the George Washington University Law School.

"Cy Vance is not running for reelection. Vance is, as they say, a lame duck," Bharara said, meaning Vance wouldn't be subject to the political forces that candidates for public office would be. The former Manhattan US attorney also said that Vance's decision to hire an outside forensic-accounting firm was another signal that "there's a good likelihood" of a criminal charge against Trump from the district attorney's office.

In Georgia, meanwhile, prosecutors are looking into Trump's efforts to manipulate the state's 2020 election results. The Washington Post reported in January that Trump had pleaded with Georgia's secretary of state in a phone call to "find" enough votes to help him secure a win.

"The people of Georgia are angry - the people in the country are angry," Trump told Brad Raffensperger. "And there's nothing wrong with saying, you know, um, that you've recalculated."

He later added: "All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state."

The Daily Beast reported in March that two grand juries were underway in Fulton County as the prosecutor's office's public-integrity unit investigated whether Trump illegally tried to influence the state's election results.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/potential-trump-indictment-york-florida-125317593.html

 

GO RV, then BV

  • Like 1
  • Downvote 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Week

Manhattan prosecutors are reportedly investigating if Trump paid tuition of CFO's grandkids

 
 
Peter Weber
Fri, May 14, 2021, 12:20 AM
 
 
7cb31522f373604a8a5c7a3c3b07c7fa

Prosecutors with Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.'s office have subpoenaed a Manhattan private school to see whether the Trump Organization paid the tuition of longtime financial chief Allen Weisselberg's grandchildren, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the matter. If former President Donald Trump's business paid the tuition, it would be considered taxable income, tax experts told the Journal, and if that income wasn't reported to tax authorities, it could constitute tax fraud.

Vance's office is trying to gain the cooperation of Weisselberg as it tries to untangle the Trump Organization's byzantine financial records, according to multiple reports. Jennifer Weisselberg, who was married to Weisselberg's son Barry until their divorce, told the Journal that Trump or Allen Weisselberg signed checks for more than $500,000 to Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School to cover tuition for her and Barry's two children from 2012 to 2019. The couple understood the tuition payments to be part of Barry's Trump Organization compensation package, she added.

Divorce documents filed by Barry Weisselberg said his parents paid the children's tuition to the Upper West Side private school because he couldn't afford to, and the Weisselberg family characterized the payments as a gift, the Journal reports. If the grandparents paid the tuition directly to the school as a gift, that would not be taxed, but if the Trump Organization paid the tuition, the Weisselbergs could be in legal jeopardy.

"Without an insider it can be difficult to put all the pieces in a white-collar case together," Daniel Horwitz, a white-collar defense lawyer at McLaughlin & Stern, told the Journal. "The way that cooperation is typically obtained is by demonstrating to the potential cooperator that they have no better option."

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/manhattan-prosecutors-reportedly-investigating-trump-042009377.html

 

GO RV, then BV

  • Like 1
  • Downvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Reuters

Trump, House Democrats near agreement on Deutsche Bank subpoenas

44cdb9c81ae8639bbb9654573801e817
 
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando
Mon, May 17, 2021, 12:25 PM

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former President Donald Trump and Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives said on Monday they are near an agreement to resolve disputes concerning congressional subpoenas of his financial records from Deutsche Bank AG.

In a filing in federal court in Manhattan, lawyers for Trump and the Democrats said they believed they were "close to an agreement" in talks concerning the scope of the subpoenas and a process for resolving privacy concerns. They asked a judge for another 30 days to continue talks.

Deutsche Bank, Trump's main bank, said in the same filing that both sides would invite it to raise any concerns "at an appropriate time." Deutsche Bank has maintained it took no position on the subpoenas and would comply with the law.

 

The House Financial Services Committee and House Intelligence Committee subpoenaed Deutsche Bank in 2019, seeking years of banking records concerning Trump, his adult children and his businesses.

Last July, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Trump's claim that as president he possessed an absolute right to block the release of its records. But the justices said that while Congress had the power to seek evidence from the president, a lower appeals court failed to adequately consider whether the demands by lawmakers were overbroad or too intrusive.

In a separate decision, the Supreme Court also said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance could obtain eight years of Trump's tax returns for a criminal probe into the former president and his businesses. Vance now has those returns.

With the original House subpoenas having expired, an agreement regarding the Deutsche Bank records would eliminate a need to reissue them.

 

https://news.yahoo.com/trump-house-democrats-near-agreement-162519940.html

 

GO RV, then BV

  • Like 1
  • Downvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Business Insider

Palm Beach County prosecutor says Gov. Ron DeSantis can't stop Trump from getting extradited to New York if he's indicted

9c5163bf43b92030535bcb725641352c
 

Palm Beach County prosecutor says Gov. Ron DeSantis can't stop Trump from getting extradited to New York if he's indicted

 

Grace Panetta,Sonam Sheth

Mon, May 17, 2021, 9:31 AM·4 min read
 
 
trump-desantis
 
Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and President Donald Trump are close political allies. SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
  • Palm Beach County's top prosecutor said the governor couldn't block extradition if Trump were indicted.

  • Gov. Ron DeSantis' "power to stop an extradition is really nonexistent," Dave Aronberg told CNN.

  • Politico reported last week that Palm Beach was preparing for an extradition request from New York.

Palm Beach County's top prosecutor threw cold water on the suggestion that Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida could unilaterally block former President Donald Trump from getting extradited to New York to face criminal charges.

Politico Playbook first reported on Thursday that officials in Palm Beach, where Trump resides at his Mar-a-Lago resort, were drawing up "contingency plans" in the event that prosecutors in New York charge Trump with a crime and move to extradite him for prosecution.

State Attorney Dave Aronberg told "CNN Newsroom" on Sunday that he hadn't had any conversations with his counterparts in New York about an extradition plan.

 

"I can clear that up because I'm the state attorney here in Palm Beach County, and we have not had conversations with prosecutors in New York about this. The story that you saw was informal conversations with the clerk of courts and other local officials in case an indictment happens," Aronberg said.

Aronberg also pushed back on Politico's reporting that DeSantis could intervene and prevent Trump from getting extradited to New York.

"So that's a conversation we're having: What is the governor's power? And the governor's power to stop an extradition is really nonexistent," Aronberg said. "He can try to delay it, he can send it to a committee and do research about it, but his role is really ministerial, and ultimately the state of New York can go to court and get an order to extradite the former president. But DeSantis could delay matters."

 

The Manhattan district attorney's investigation into Trump is examining whether the Trump Organization violated state laws when it facilitated hush-money payments to the adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, who said she had an affair with Trump in 2006. According to legal filings, state prosecutors suspect the Trump Organization and members of Trump's family may have engaged in financial fraud to cover up the purpose of the payments.

The former president's tax returns are central to the case, and Manhattan prosecutors secured a major victory earlier this year when the Supreme Court cleared the way for them to obtain the documents.

Investigators are also scrutinizing Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization's longtime chief financial officer. Weisselberg's former daughter-in-law, Jennifer, told Insider's Jacob Shamsian last month that she'd cooperated extensively with the investigation and still had "several boxes of documents" to give prosecutors.

A grand jury is also reportedly seeking to secure Allen Weisselberg's cooperation.

In March, legal experts said it looked as if Manhattan prosecutors were nearing the end of their investigation. A former top deputy in District Attorney Cy Vance Jr.'s office told Insider that Vance would likely want to make charging decisions before his retirement in December.

There might be a small window of time where Trump could be extradited and tried. As Insider's Tom LoBianco reported in late April, Trump is expected to relocate to his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, during the summer when Mar-a-Lago is closed. Trump's club in Bedminster has been a hotbed for GOP campaign fundraising.

Insider previously reported that Trump's team was far more concerned about state-level investigations than an ongoing Justice Department investigation into his role in the Capitol insurrection on January 6. Trump also faces legal jeopardy from a separate investigation in Atlanta focused on his efforts to manipulate the election results in Georgia.

News of the Atlanta investigation surfaced after The Washington Post reported in January that Trump had pleaded with Georgia's secretary of state in a phone call to "find" enough votes to help him secure a win in the state.

 

https://news.yahoo.com/palm-beach-county-prosecutor-says-133112663.html

 

GO RV, then BV

  • Like 1
  • Downvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I could care less about Trumps Tax Returns........A Business man that made himself a Millionaire. 

 

I what rather see the Tax returns of Pelosi, Chucky the Clown, Oompa Lumpa Nadler, Shifty Schiff and any number of other Public Servants that are Billionaires of a Public Salary the American People pay. 

 

Karsten

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
  • Upvote 1
  • Pow! 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Associated Press

NY attorney general says Trump Org probe is now criminal

 
MICHAEL R. SISAK
Tue, May 18, 2021, 11:16 PM
 
 

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York attorney general's office said Tuesday that it is conducting a criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump's business empire, expanding what had previously been a civil probe.

“We have informed the Trump Organization that our investigation into the company is no longer purely civil in nature," Fabien Levy, a spokesperson for Attorney General Letitia James, said in a statement.

“We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan DA,” Levy said.

 

James' investigators are working with the Manhattan district attorney's office, which has been conducting a criminal investigation into Trump and his company, the Trump Organization, for two years. James and District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. are both Democrats.

James' office offered no explanation for what prompted the change in its approach to the investigation or why it chose to announce it publicly. CNN was first to report the development.

Levy declined further comment. A spokesperson for Vance declined comment. A message seeking comment was left with a lawyer for Trump and spokespeople for the former president and his company.

In the past, the Republican ex-president has decried the investigations as part of a Democratic “witch hunt.”

James’ disclosure of a widening investigation is not necessarily an indication that she is planning to bring criminal charges. In New York, if that were to happen, the state attorney general can do so through a county district attorney, like Vance, or with a referral from Gov. Andrew Cuomo or a state agency.

James’ civil investigation and Vance’s criminal probe had overlapped in some areas, including examining whether Trump or his businesses manipulated the value of assets — inflating them in some cases and minimizing them in others — to gain favorable loan terms and tax benefits.

Vance’s investigation also included a look at hush-money payments paid to women on Trump’s behalf and the propriety of tax write-offs the Trump Organization claimed on millions of dollars in consulting fees it paid, including money that went to Trump’s daughter, Ivanka.

Vance’s office hasn’t publicly said what it is investigating, citing grand jury secrecy rules, but some details have come out during a legal battle to get access to Trump's tax records, which it finally obtained in February.

As part of her civil investigation, James’ office issued subpoenas to local governments in November 2019 for records pertaining to Trump’s estate north of Manhattan, Seven Springs and a tax benefit Trump received for placing land there into a conservation trust.

James was also looking at similar issues relating to a Trump office building in New York City, a hotel in Chicago and a golf course near Los Angeles. Her office also won a series of court rulings forcing Trump’s company and a law firm it hired to turn over troves of records.

Vance’s investigation has also appeared to focus in recent weeks on the Trump Organization's longtime finance chief, Allen Weisselberg.

His former daughter-in-law, Jen Weisselberg, has given investigators reams of documents as they look into how some Trump employees were compensated with apartments or school tuition.

Weisselberg was subpoenaed in James’ civil investigation and testified twice in 2020. His lawyer didn't immediately respond to an email Tuesday night.

 

https://news.yahoo.com/ny-attorney-general-says-trump-031600818.html

 

GO RV, then BV

 

  • Like 1
  • Downvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

HuffPost

Ex-DOJ Official Warns Trump: 'This Is A Letter Talking About Jail Time'

 
 
Ed Mazza
·Overnight Editor, HuffPost
Wed, May 19, 2021, 4:38 AM
 
 

The New York Attorney General’s Office announced a criminal investigation into the Trump Organization on Tuesday night, and at least one observer says this spells big trouble for former President Donald Trump and his family.

“This letter is not like ordinary politics,” former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal said on MSNBC, adding:

“It’s not some statement from Nancy Pelosi or Joe Biden or Kamala Harris. It’s not even a Supreme Court loss, of which Trump had many, or a civil fine, of which Trump has paid many. This is a letter talking about jail time.”

“What this letter is saying is that prosecutors believe that there is a strong reason to think that the Trump Organization committed various crimes,” Katyal said.

Katyal noted that the attorney general’s office said they were working with the Manhattan district attorney, who has obtained Trump’s taxes after a Supreme Court battle. However, Katyal did allow that there was a way the former president might try to duck blame, particularly since the Trump Organization website prominently features images of Trump’s two adult sons, Eric and Don Jr.

“I suppose Donald Trump can pull a Ted Cruz and blame his kids here or something like that,” Katyal said, referring to how the Texas senator blamed his daughters after he was caught sneaking off for a vacation in Cancun as his state suffered massive power outages following a winter storm.

A spokesperson for New York AG Letitia James said Tuesday evening that the Trump Organization was informed the investigation into the company was “no longer purely civil in nature.” That investigation, opened in 2019, has been examining Trump’s business dealings before he entered the White House.

“We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan DA,” the statement said.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/neal-katyal-trump-investigation-083844352.html

 

GO RV, then BV

  • Like 1
  • Downvote 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.