Donald Trump: Gold-Plated Fraud

Following December’s criminal convictions of The Trump Organization for tax fraud and falsifying business records, a New York State civil court judge has found Donald Trump’s personal business guilty of business fraud, using wildly inflated property valuations to obtain larger bank loans. Judge Arthur Engoron agreed with the prosecution claim that Mr. Trump overstated his wealth to lenders and insurers by as much as $3.6 billion.

The Trump Organization, an amalgam of Trump family real estate, hotel, and golf course holdings, had its licencing revoked, and its New York State assets will be administered (and possibly liquidated) under receivership. They include 40 Wall Street, an estate in Westchester County, Trump Tower, Trump Park Avenue, and a Westchester golf club. Donald Trump can no longer pretend to be a legitimate businessman, except perhaps on televison (fun fact: he is a former SAG-AFTRA member).

Trump businesses are due to go on trial for further charges of civil fraud again on Monday. New York Attorney General Letitia James is seeking a $250 million judgment on one of those claims.

More:

“Judge rules Donald Trump defrauded banks and insurers while building real estate empire,” Michael R. Sisak, Associated Press

“Why a fraud finding is like ‘corporate death penalty’ for Trump,” Zachary B. Wolf, CNN

“Trump’s Habit of Lying About Everything All the Time May Cost Him Trump Tower,” Bess Levin, Vanity Fair

“Trump’s Absurd Property Valuations Confirm His Disregard for Reality,” Jacob Sullum, Reason

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Trump Fraud Lawsuit: Red Meat?

After a three-year civil investigation into the Trump Organization’s business practices, New York State Attorney General Letitia James has sued Donald Trump, his adult children Donald Jr., Eric, and Ivanka, and Trump Organization employees for falsely inflating the value of assets for many years to receive tax breaks and favorable loan and insurance rates. The suit aims to recover $250 million. Said AG James: “Claiming you have money that you do not have does not amount to the art of the deal. It’s the art of the steal.”

Attorney General James seeks to bar Trump and his organization from buying commercial real estate or receiving bank loans for five years, and to permanently bar Trump, Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric Trump from serving as executives in any New York companies. Naturally, Trump’s attorney called the filing politically motivated.

This is a civil suit, but the charges, if true, would point to federal and local criminal charges, and AG James has referred these matters to the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the Manhattan District Attorney.

More:

“Donald Trump, 3 of his children accused of business fraud by New York AG,” Shayna Jacobs and Jonathan O’Connell, Washington Post

“New York attorney general lawsuit accuses Trump of ‘staggering’ fraud,” Hugo Lowell, Maya Yang and Martin Pengelly The Guardian

“‘Art of the steal’: Trump accused of vast fraud in NY suit
By Michael R. Sisak and Larry Neumeister, Associated Press

“New York attorney general sues Trump, accuses him of “astounding” fraud and deception,” Andrew Prokop, Vox

Updates:

“It’s Just Fraud All the Way Down,” David A. Graham. The Atlantic

“As Trump’s Legal Woes Mount, So Do Financial Pressures on Him,” Maggie Haberman, Ben Protess, Matthew Goldstein and Eric Lipton, New York Times

“Are Mar-a-Lago and other Trump-owned properties over-valued?” Sam Cabral, BBC News

“How Screwed Are Donald Trump and His Adult Children, and Other Questions You Might Have About the ‘Staggering’ Fraud Lawsuit Against Them,” Bess Levin, Vanity Fair

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Taxpayers Paid $77,000 So Trump Jr. Could Murder Mongolian Sheep

“Donald Trump Jr.’s eight-day trip to Mongolia last August was controversial, not least because he was awarded a permit to hunt an endangered argali sheep after he had already killed one. He also had a private meeting with Mongolian President Khaltmaagiin Battulga, a month after Battulga met with President Trump in the White House, and he was traveling with a major Republican donor, ProPublica reported. Also, taxpayers spent nearly $77,000 on Secret Service protection during the trophy hunting expedition, the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington reports, citing updated Freedom of Information Act requests.

— “Taxpayers spent $77,000 on Donald Trump Jr. Mongolia sheep hunting trip, Secret Service receipts show,” Peter Weber, The Week [emphasis added]

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Trump Jr. Murders Mongolian Sheep, Gets Pardoned

Donald J. Trump Jr. bought an exotic hunting expedition to Mongolia at an NRA charity auction and traveled there last summer with five of his closest friends Secret Service agents. Trump Junior, ever the sportsman, went hunting at night with a laser-sight-equipped rifle and shot an argali sheep.

The argali sheep is a rare endangered species. Mongolia allows a few argali to be shot every year, but hunters need special permits. When he murdered that Mongolian mutton, Donald Trump Jr. did not have a permit. If Hunter Biden had done that, he’d be in Gants Khudag Police Detention Center in Ulaanbaatar. For some reason, Junior got a permit retroactively after he met with Mongolia’s president, His Excellency Khaltmaagiin Battulga.

More:

“Donald Trump Jr. Went to Mongolia, Got Special Treatment From the Government and Killed an Endangered Sheep,” Jake Pearson and Anand Tumurtogoo, Pro Publica

“Donald Trump Jr. Benefits From Nepotism in Foreign Country by Shooting Endangered Animal,” Matt Stieb, New York Magazine

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Trump Throws Junior Under the Bus

Too impatient to read all the way through the story of Issac in Mike Pence’s Bible, President Donald Trump sacrificed eldest son Donald Trump Jr. to the Mueller investigation last Sunday.

Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics – and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 5, 2018

That’s right. The president threw his firstborn under the bus, but claims he himself is innocent. Daddy Trump is implicating his own son in a conspiracy violation of federal election law, and also making false statements to Congress about Russian campaign involvement. No wonder President Trump’s allies have urged him to stop tweeting about the 2016 Trump Tower meeting.

More:

“President Admits Trump Tower Meeting Was Meant to Get Dirt on Clinton,” Michael D. Shear and Michael S. Schmidt, New York Times

“Trump acknowledges, defends 2016 meeting between son, Kremlin-aligned lawyer,” Ashley Parker and Rosalind S. Helderman, Washington Post

“Donald Trump throws his eldest son under the bus: And yes, this ‘collusion’ could be criminal,” Bob Cesca, Salon

“Thrown Under the Legal Bus’: Lawyer Says Trump May Have Just Implicated His Son in a Series of Crimes,” Cody Fenwick, AlterNet

“Why Would Trump Throw Don Jr. Under The Legal Bus?” Elie Mystal, Above The Law

“Donald Trump Jr.’s Potential Legal Troubles, Explained,” Charlie Savage, New York Times

“The Double Damage of the President’s Trump Tower Admission,” David A. Graham, The Atlantic

“The Day Trump Told Us There Was Attempted Collusion with Russia,” Adam Davidson, The New Yorker

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Donald Trump Jr.’s Russia Meeting: 8th Man Identified

The 8th participant in Donald Trump Jr.’s 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer bearing campaign dirt on Hillary Clinton has been identified. He is Irakly “Ike” Kaveladze, a naturalized U.S. citizen and the California-based representative of Aras Agalarov, the “Russian Donald Trump.” Mr. Kavaladze is a vice president at the Agalarov family‘s Crocus Group real estate company. Earlier in his U.S. business career, Mr. Kavaladze was implicated in a $1.4 billion money-laundering operation.

According to his personal website:

“Ike Kaveladze’s responsibilities pertaining to Crocus’ international development projects include securing and structuring project investments, and negotiating with Chinese and other international contractors. One such project is the construction of the largest institution of higher education in Russia, Far Eastern Federal University in the Primorsky Krai (maritime province) capitol city of Vladivostok. Ike Kaveladze has engaged architects, engineers, designers, and decorators from the United States and elsewhere to work on the construction of the 8.4-million-square-meter campus and other Crocus endeavors across Russia.

Ike Kaveladze earned his undergraduate degree in economics and graduate degree in accounting at the Moscow Academy of Finance, prior to receiving his Master of Business Administration at the University of New Haven in Connecticut. Active with governments, businesses, and professionals on three continents, he is a member of the US-Russia Business Council and the Georgian Association in the United States of America, Inc.”

So the June 9, 2016 Trump Tower meeting was attended by Donald Trump Jr., his brother-in-law Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort (then Trump campaign manager), Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, translator Anatoli Samochornov, Russian-American lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin, music publicist Rob Goldstone, and Crocus Group representative Ike Kaveladze.

Video: Okay, Mr. Kavaladze was technically not the “8th man” at the meeting, he was the “8th person” (one attendee was a woman), but we couldn’t find any music for that.

More:

“Eighth person in Trump Tower meeting is identified,” Rosalind S. Helderman, Washington Post

“Mueller Probing Eighth Man from Trump Jr.’s Russia Meeting,” Daily Beast

Update:

“Russian man at Trump Jr meeting had partner with Soviet intelligence ties,” Jon Swaine, The Guardian 

Related:

“Was President at Trump Tower When Son Met Russian Lawyer?” John T. Bennett, Roll Call

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Donald Trump Jr., Cover Boy

“How bad is it?” asks David Von Drehle in Time magazine, the new issue with Donald Trump Jr. on the cover. Maybe Trump Sr. will put this cover on the walls of his golf course clubhouses.

Donny Junior’s Russian meeting is certainly a front page story, and as more information emerges, it just gets worse. Possible federal election law violation, conspiracy,  and obstruction of justice. That means full employment for Washington’s lawyers for the foreseeable future.

More:

“How Donald Trump Jr.’s Emails Have Cranked Up the Heat on His Family,” David Von Drehle, TIME

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Donald Trump Jr.’s Cartoonish Campaign Conspiracy

So this Ivy-League-educated New York millionaire frat boy gets an email from a British music promoter and professional fat guy he met at a Moscow beauty pageant, who tells him a Russian government attorney he knows through a Russian pop singer client has dirt on the political opponent of the millionaire’s daddy that she got from the Russian chief federal prosecutor. “I love it,” responds the millionaire New Yorker, and forwards the email to his brother-in-law and his poppa’s campaign manager, and they all meet with the Russian lawyer at Trump Tower, in violation of federal campaign law, and they don’t tell anyone until after they win the election. The Big Apple frat boy then incriminates himself via twitter and hires a trombone-playing mob lawyer to defend him.

Natasha Fatale: “What do you think?”
Boris Badenov: “I think he is as dumb as a sack of hammers.”

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Donald Trump’s Favorite Russian Pop Star

“Good Love,” written and performed by Azerbaijan-born Emin Agalarov, the favorite Russ-Pop artist of the U.S. President and his son, Donnie Jr. Just like Don Jr., Emin is the son of a controversial billionaire. Their daddies even know each other.

Video directed by Alan Badoev.

EMIN official website.

Related:

“How a Pageant Led to a Trump Son’s Meeting With a Russian Lawyer,” By Megan Twohey and Steve Eder, New York Times

“How Trump’s ‘Miss Universe’ in Russia Became Ensnared in a Political Inquiry,” Katie Rogers, New York Times

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Donald Trump Jr. Met With a Russian to Get Dirt on Hillary Clinton

Donald Trump Jr., promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton, met with Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya during the 2016 campaign, reports the New York Times. Brother-in-law Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort, then Trump campaign manager, also attended the Trump Tower meeting on June 9, 2016, soon after Donald Trump clinched the GOP presidential nomination.

Junior has replied that the meeting with Ms. Veselnitskaya was about something else. And besides, he added, her campaign dirt on Hillary wasn’t any good.

More:

“Trump’s Son Met With Russian Lawyer After Being Promised Damaging Information on Clinton,” Jo Becker, Matt Apuzzo, and Adam Goldman, New York Times

“Donald Trump Jr.’s Two Different Explanations for Russian Meeting,” Liam Stack, New York Times

“If There Was No Collusion, It Wasn’t for Lack of Trying,” David A. Graham, The Atlantic

“Donald Trump Jr.’s ‘Denials’ of Russian Collusion Are Actually Confessions,” Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine

“Donald Trump Jr. is digging himself a deep legal hole” Zack Beauchamp, Vox

“Trump Jr. Hires Criminal Defense Attorney Alan Futerfas For Russia Probe,” Matt Shuman, TPM LiveWire

“Donald Trump Jr.’s lawyer is a Juilliard-trained trombonist who plays in a symphony and defends mobsters,” Derek Hawkins, Washington Post

 

Updates:

“Russian Dirt on Clinton? ‘I Love It,’ Donald Trump Jr. Said,” Jo Becker, Matt Apuzzo, and Adam Goldman, New York Times

“Read the Emails on Donald Trump Jr.’s Russia Meeting,” New York Times

“Was President at Trump Tower When Son Met Russian Lawyer?” John T. Bennett, Roll Call

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