Report: Prosecutors Aren’t Done With the Trump Organization

Earlier this year, the Trump Organization and its longtime CFO, Allen Weisselberg, was charged with a cornucopia of crimes that included, among other things, conspiracy and multiple counts of tax fraud and falsifying business records. According to prosecutors, the scam went like this: In lieu of additional cash compensation, Donald Trump’s company would provide “fringe benefits” like apartments, cars, and private school tuition to executives like Weisselberg, for which they would then accidentally-on-purpose fail to pay taxes. The whole scheme, to which the Trump Organization and Weisselberg have pleaded not guilty, allegedly allowed the then CFO to avoid taxes on $1.7 million in perks that should have been reported as income, or what is known to average, tax-paying Americans, as a “fuck ton of money.” And prosecutors don’t think it’s the only scam Team Trump had up its sleeve!

The Washington Post reports that following last July’s indictments, prosecutors in both the New York attorney general’s office and that of the Manhattan district attorney have been examining whether the company broke the law by offering wildly different valuations of its properties depending on whether it was trying to obtain loans, in which case they would be high, or minimize tax bills, in which case they could be comically low. For instance:

The Trump Organization owns an office building at 40 Wall Street in Manhattan. In 2012, when the company was listing its assets for potential lenders, it said the building was worth $527 million—which would make it among the most valuable in New York. But just a few months later, the Trump Organization told property tax officials that the entire 70-story building was worth less than a high-end Manhattan condo: just $16.7 million, according to newly released city records. That was less than one-thirtieth the amount it had claimed the year before.

Among the other properties under scrutiny: former president Donald Trump’s California golf club, for which he valued the same parcel of land at $900,000 and $25 million depending on the intended audience, and an estate in suburban New York, for which Trump’s valuations ranged from $56 million up to $291 million. The valuations were all given in the five years before Trump won the presidency.

Prosecutors appear to have dug deeply into these properties, according to court papers and people familiar with the investigation. They have compiled reams of emails, planning documents and financial data, even seeking the initiation fees Trump charged golf club members as far back as a decade ago. In Los Angeles, they have asked for geology reports on the rock layers under Trump’s course—where the value was affected by a history of landslides.

Last month, The New York Times reported that Westchester County D.A.’s office had opened its own criminal probe into the Trump Organization, thought to be focused in part on whether the company—wait for it—misled local officials about the Trump National Golf Club Westchester’s property value with the intent of lowering its tax bill. For instance, in one year, town officials valued the property at roughly $15 million, while the Trump Organization claimed it was worth just $1.4 million. Meanwhile, on federal disclosure forms filed while he was president, Trump said the club was worth more than $50 million.

According to the Post, prosecutors have “sought detailed records from two outside companies that worked with the Trump Organization to formulate these valuations: appraisal firm Cushman & Wakefield and law firm Morgan Lewis.” In court filings, prosecutors have referenced emails which they say Trump Organization executives or a Morgan Lewis lawyer pressured appraisers to change their analysis. Neither Morgan Lewis nor Cushman & Wakefield responded to the Post’s requests for comment.

Real estate appraisers told the Post that it was “highly unusual” for a property owner to give such hugely different valuations for the same property during the same period. “I’ve never seen anything with a gap that extreme,” said Norm Miller, a professor of real estate finance at the University of San Diego who has appraised properties for 50 years. Per the Post, according to New York law, it is a felony to file false documents with the government, make false statements on a sworn record, or falsify business records.

Still:

Legal experts said that if prosecutors wish to prove a crime, they will need to do more than simply prove Trump’s valuations were wrong. “Is it an overly optimistic? Is it an enthusiastic perception?” said Robert Masters, a former top aide to the district attorney in Queens. “Does that make it a lie?”

Masters said prosecutors would probably need to show that the figures were wrong on purpose—falsified deliberately, with an intent to deceive a lender or the government. Masters said that may require a witness on the inside, who could explain the decision-making behind the numbers. “Is there somebody there who can translate the books?” he said.

Another possible defense that Trump’s lawyers have no doubt already proposed: Trump was just a simple country developer who relied on outside experts to set valuations for him. In fact, that was the defense Trump trotted out after The New York Times published a Pulitzer Prize–winning investigation accusing him and his siblings of “outright fraud,” with his lawyer telling the paper, “President Trump had virtually no involvement whatsoever with these matters. The affairs were handled by other Trump family members who were not experts themselves and therefore relied entirely upon the aforementioned licensed professionals to ensure full compliance with the law.”

And yet!

Samuel W. Buell, a law professor at Duke University, said prosecutors often look for evidence that their targets misled their own experts. That negates the “gatekeeper” defense, he said, and may show evidence of an intent to mislead.

“You lied to the gatekeeper, and that’s the only reason they let you through,” Buell said.

On Monday, Eric Trump, claimed the investigations are an example of the “weaponization of political prosecutors,” adding, “It is eroding Americans’ confidence in the legal system and it has to stop.”

Earlier this month, the Post reported that the Manhattan D.A. had convened a second long-term grand jury to hear fresh evidence about the Trump Organization’s “financial practices,” and could potentially return a new round of criminal charges.

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Michael Cohen sends a holiday message to what we assume is his former employer

Elon Musk sounds like a real treat, part 837,391

Who wouldn’t want to do business with this guy? Per The Wall Street Journal:

Elon Musk and Jamie Dimon don’t get along. Mr. Musk has spurned Mr. Dimon’s JPMorgan Chase & Co. for years, turning to other banks while expanding Tesla Inc. and his broader empire. Conversations over the years between the two companies have often upset one side or the other, according to people familiar with the matter…A small part of the quiet feud, which pits America’s most valuable car maker against its biggest bank, spilled into the open last week when JPMorgan sued Tesla. In its lawsuit, JPMorgan said Tesla owes it $162 million from a trade the bank helped arrange in 2014. Typically, bankers seek to avoid public fights with big clients and even potential clients, anxious about winning fees and worried the slightest insult could cost them access.

“We have provided Tesla multiple opportunities to fulfill its contractual obligations, so it is unfortunate that they have forced this issue into litigation,” JPMorgan said last week. “If JPM doesn’t withdraw their lawsuit, I will give them a one star review on Yelp,” Mr. Musk said in response to The Wall Street Journal. “This is my final warning!”

To be fair, allegedly reneging on bills and threatening negative Yelp reviews is far from the worst thing Musk has done when he believes he’s been wronged. In 2018, he called a guy who helped rescue children trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand a “pedo” for suggesting his idea to use a submarine to free them was unworkable.

“The best people”

In 2016, Donald Trump boasted that he would fill his administration with “the best people,” who in reality turned out to be the world’s biggest collection of sleazebags and criminals. Now that he’s attempting to stock the U.S. government with loyalists who can help him maintain his power? Things…haven’t changed at all! Per The Washington Post:

Republican Sean Parnell, who was endorsed by former president Donald Trump in a closely watched Pennsylvania Senate race, said Monday he will not continue with his campaign, hours after it was made public that a judge had granted his estranged wife primary custody of the couple’s three children. The judge’s order last week, made public in court documents Monday, outlined in detail the allegations of domestic and other abuse Laurie Snell had made against her estranged husband, and concluded that “Parnell did commit some acts of abuse in the past.” Parnell has denied the allegations.

In his decision to award primary physical and sole legal custody of the children to Snell, Senior Judge James Arner deemed Snell “the more credible witness” who “can truthfully give regular status reports to Sean Parnell and, as may be needed, to the court.”

Snell has accused Parnell of multiple forms of abuse before their separation, including choking her and hitting one of their children so hard he left a “full handprint” mark on the child’s back. She testified that Parnell has thrown chairs across the room toward her; pinned her down and screamed profanities at her; called her crazy in front of the children; and once dropped her off on Interstate 79 when she was six months pregnant and told her to get an abortion.

Parnell has denied the allegations as “complete fabrications,” though the judge apparently didn’t buy his denials. In his decision, Arner wrote that he found Parnell’s testimony “less credible.” Parnell “simply denied that all of incidents [sic] ever happened, except he did describe his view of the incident when his younger son was hit by a closet door,” Arner wrote. “He was somewhat evasive. When weighing his position against Laurie Snell’s statements of detailed facts about many incidents, Sean Parnell’s position is less believable.”

Trump has also endorsed Herschel Walker for Senate. According to CNN, a Texas woman told police in 2002 that Walker had threatened and stalked her, and that two other women, including Walker’s ex-wife and ex-girlfriend, have accused him of making threats, telling authorities he said he would shoot them in the head. In other words, you can understand what Trump sees in the guy. (Walker‘s campaign declined to respond to the 2002 allegations, and cited his past struggles with mental health. In a statement, a spokesperson for Walker’s campaign said, “It is sad that many in politics and the media who praised Herschel for his transparency over a decade ago are now making false statements, stereotyping, attacking, and attempting to sensationalize his past just because he is a Republican Senate candidate.”)

Elsewhere!

Stubborn Covid surges signal bleak winter (Politico)

How United Airlines Decided to Lead on Vaccine Mandates (Bloomberg)

Michael Cohen released from home confinement, vows continued cooperation (New York Post)

U.S. listed as a ‘backsliding’ democracy for first time in report by European think tank (The Washington Post)

Biden renames Powell to lead Fed, risking the left’s wrath (Politico)

Get Ready to Discuss NFTs and Dogecoin at the Thanksgiving Table (Bloomberg)

Al Gore ‘was a man’ about his election loss, unlike Trump, federal judge says (CNN)

Tech billionaire allegedly kept spreadsheet of 5,000 women he had sex with (New York Post)

‘Don’t get caught napping’: Pillow fighting enters combat sports arena (CNN)

‘Are you OK, Prime Minister?’: Concerns raised about Boris Johnson after bizarre Peppa Pig speech (Telegraph)

— In Major Shift, NIH Admits Funding Risky Virus Research in Wuhan
— Matt Gaetz Reportedly Screwed Six Ways From Sunday
— Joe Biden Reaffirms Trump’s Has-Been Status Over Jan. 6 Documents
— The Metaverse Is About to Change Everything
— The Weirdness of Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s Reluctant Leader
— The Jan. 6 Committee Is Finally Getting Trump Allies to Spill
— Jeffrey Epstein’s Billionaire Friend Leon Black Is Under Investigation
— Facebook’s Reckoning With Reality—And the Metaverse-Size Problems to Come
— From the Archive: Robert Durst, the Fugitive Heir
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