The Trump “mob” faces serious criminal charges that represent a gigantic pile of woe for the “Don”, his kids, and anyone who ever worked for him. Thus far, only his Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Allen Weisselberg and the Trump Organization have been charged, and both pleaded not guilty. But other punishments are underway. For starters, there have been, and will be, few high-profile gigs offered to Jared and Ivanka. They have “gone to ground” a while ago, mostly in anticipation of this week’s revelations.
Also missing in action — but not missed — are Donald Jr. and his bullhorn-volume girlfriend as well as brother Eric and his mouthy wife, Lara. Not surprisingly, Eric’s missus abandoned her plans to run for elected office in North Carolina, undoubtedly due to marital and/or legal advice, also in anticipation of this week’s revelations.
Their absence from the airwaves is reason enough to celebrate the arrest and 25 indictments against the Trump Organization and Trump’s CFO. But it’s due to the fact that the charges are serious -- tax evasion and grand larceny – and, if proven, mean hard jail time for Weisselberg and mega-fines and trouble ahead for their family’s company. Obviously, more charges are in the offing, given the systemic corruption outlined in the indictment, but the principal target remains Donald Trump himself, the Tony Soprano who lived in the White House for four years.
Clearly, the Trump offspring may not be the brightest pennies in the wallet but know they are next, along with other execs or accomplices. This has wreaked, undoubtedly, panic in TrumpLand, and the smart ones realize they had better consider cutting a deal quickly to avoid the Crowbar Hotel. Meanwhile, the Boss is impervious to the looming legal nightmare and doubles down, casting it as another example of the “deep state’s” witch hunt against him in order to fortify his unrelenting re-election campaigning.
But hazards for the former President lie ahead, not the least of which is the distinct possibility that prosecutors will obtain evidence from more insiders who may definitively prove Trump’s guilt. Weisselberg may cop a plea and squeal — but Trump’s savvy psychologist niece Mary Trump believes the accountant won’t rat out her uncle. However, she believes that the three Trump kids might be a different story. “If I were Donald I would not be sanguine about them,” she said smiling on television.
Weisselberg is accused of masterminding a 15-year scheme that allowed him to personally receive indirect compensation worth about $1.76 million, in the form of free rent, tuition for kids, cars, and air travel. Prosecutors also allege he concealed compensation from his tax preparer and intentionally omitted it from his tax returns. If proven, those acts of omission alone will net him serious slammer time, which would convince most 73-year-olds to turn on the top dog. And he’s valuable and knows everything, having been at the center of the sleaze for two generations. The Grand Jury is now examining bank and insurance and bankruptcy fraud allegations.
But whether the CFO remains tight-lipped or not may be irrelevant given that the indictment contains two other bombshells. The first one is that two more Trump executives were compensated by receiving untaxed benefits, exposing them to charges and making them ripe for turning over State’s evidence. The second is that one of these execs may have already done so, witness a reference throughout the indictment to “unindicted co-conspirator #1”. This has launched a guessing game in the media and in New York as to who #1 is, and, in my mind, whether there is also a #2 or #3.
There’s also the issue of Ivanka’s huge consulting fees, in addition to a plump salary, which was brought into question in The New York Times’ award-winning investigation into Trump’s tax maneuvers. The paper’s team tracked more than $700,000 paid to Ivanka’s personal consulting company plus found another $26 million paid to unknown consultants over the years -- money that may have been legitimately transferred or may have found its way into the bank accounts of family members or their companies in order to duck income or gift taxes or to launder money.
Last year the government issued subpoenas to the Trump Organization related to tax write-offs on millions of dollars in consulting fees paid to TTT consulting L.L.C., a company set up for the three oldest children. And attorneys and forensic accountants are undoubtedly poring over the Trump Organization’s “corporate” expenses to determine whether family facelifts, hairstylists, designer clothes, private jets, school tuition, mansions, furnishings, art, golf games, mistresses, and vacations have been written off as legitimate expenses by the Trump Organization to unjustly reduce profits and evade taxes.
As a specialist in white-collar crime and author of four books on scams much more sophisticated than this one, this legal tangle is ruinous and will lead to the unraveling of the family and its fortune. The cloud hanging over all Trump operations, and finances, will lead to borrowing barriers as well as refinancing problems, thus forcing sell-offs own the road. This trajectory, by the way, is not unusual. When mobs or ruthless families engage in wholesale grift, someone inevitably gets caught and squeals. Alternatively, in a culture of cheating, they sometimes cheat one another until someone gets back-stabbed and decides to get even.
That’s already happened here. Mary Trump and ex-Trump consigliere Michael Cohen have provided documents and ammunition to prosecutors because both were betrayed for different reasons. Mary and her brother were unceremoniously disinherited decades ago from their share of Grandpa Fred Trump’s billion-dollar estate by Uncle Donald. She wrote a bestselling book to slag Uncle Donald, gave tax records to The Times and investigators, then launched a multi-million dollar lawsuit to gain her family’s fair share. She claims that Donald fiddled with the estate as Fred succumbed to Alzheimer’s. Nice.
Michael Cohen was also thrown under the bus and is getting even. (This has also happened to Cohen’s successor Rudy Giuliani who’s been stiffed on legal fees and had his legal license lifted for perpetuating Trump’s Big Lie.) But Cohen got even. He went to jail, also wrote a book, testified to Congress, cooperated generously with prosecutors, and is – like Mary Trump – now having the last laugh on national television.
Cohen told CNN this is just the beginning and he ought to know: "I don't want people to think that this case is about Allen Weisselberg and an apartment and a free car and so on. It is substantially larger in scope than just that aspect. That is but the tip, it's the tip of the iceberg, and there is so much more that's coming."
Cohen said the government’s lawyers have enough evidence already to bring further charges — tax, insurance, and banking fraud — without Weisselberg’s cooperation. But added that the beancounter may crack because “now he knows what handcuffs feel like as well as being placed in a cell.”
Trump’s denials of involvement will be rubbished, he added. “There is nothing that happened at the Trump Organization that did not go to Donald, whether it was the purchasing of paper clips or the payment for Allen Weisselberg’s grandchildren’s tuition.”
Even so, it’s a longshot as to whether Trump will don an orange jumpsuit to match his orange face. He’s the Houdini of white-collar gambits.
But this time is different. Trump is no longer just another brash buccaneer thriving in a business culture in New York City which is an intersection between The Godfather and Barbarians at the Gate.
He became President, thus earning a place in American history and international fame. This, combined with his craving for publicity and criminality, has placed a gigantic bulls-eye on his back and his family’s. He’s a prosecutor’s dream and is now in the cross-hairs of America’s prosecutorial A-Team.
The ultimate justice would be if he and his collaborators face the ultimate arbiter: a dozen tax-paying jurors who will decide their fates based on facts, cloistered away from fake news and rallies and spin. If that happens, I sure don’t like their odds.
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Trump's worsening dementia, added to his ability to drag out legal proceedings, means he will never see prison. The evil spawn, on the other hand...
Thank You. Adds neatly to our 4th of July Celebrations! But, still holding my breath, Insurrection II in the lineup for August?