Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. Were Close to Being Charged With Felony Fraud

[demmiblue]

New York prosecutors were preparing a case. Then the D.A. overruled his staff after a visit from a top donor: Trump attorney Marc Kasowitz.

Source: Pro Publica

In the spring of 2012, Donald Trump’s two eldest children, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., found themselves in a precarious legal position. For two years, prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office had been building a criminal case against them for misleading prospective buyers of units in the Trump SoHo, a hotel and condo development that was failing to sell. Despite the best efforts of the siblings’ defense team, the case had not gone away. An indictment seemed like a real possibility. The evidence included emails from the Trumps making clear that they were aware they were using inflated figures about how well the condos were selling to lure buyers.

In one email, according to four people who have seen it, the Trumps discussed how to coordinate false information they had given to prospective buyers. In another, according to a person who read the emails, they worried that a reporter might be onto them. In yet another, Donald Jr. spoke reassuringly to a broker who was concerned about the false statements, saying that nobody would ever find out, because only people on the email chain or in the Trump Organization knew about the deception, according to a person who saw the email.

There was “no doubt” that the Trump children “approved, knew of, agreed to, and intentionally inflated the numbers to make more sales,” one person who saw the emails told us. “They knew it was wrong.”

In 2010, when the Major Economic Crimes Bureau of the D.A.’s office opened an investigation of the siblings, the Trump Organization had hired several top New York criminal defense lawyers to represent Donald Jr. and Ivanka. These attorneys had met with prosecutors in the bureau several times. They conceded that their clients had made exaggerated claims, but argued that the overstatements didn’t amount to criminal misconduct. Still, the case dragged on. In a meeting with the defense team, Donald Trump, Sr., expressed frustration that the investigation had not been closed. Soon after, his longtime personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz entered the case.

Read more: https://www.propublica.org/article/ivanka-donald-trump-jr-close-to-being-charged-felony-fraud

[Throck]

1. People don't understand there are two classes in Amerika

The privlidged and the rest of us. Teflon Don and the Don family.

[Timmygoat]

2. For a long period of time

I have thought the whole Trump clan were acting like part of a crime syndicate, the way Trump tries to destroy his detractors, bringing
in his henchman to help with the job, now his helpers are the congressional republican who are afraid of him. Upon reading of his grandfathers criminal past, protection racket and prostitution, and his fathers shady dealings, being a member of the KKK and renting only slum properties to people of color, I think he is carrying on a family tradition. We are the victims.

[nocalflea]

3. Not a good look for Vance.

"After being asked about these donations as part of the reporting for this article — more than four years after the fact — Vance said he now plans to give back Kasowitz’s second contribution, too. “I don’t want the money to be a millstone around anybody’s neck, including the office’s,” he said."

Too late.

They were probably right to drop the criminal case , but questions will linger for Vance.

[blueinredohio]

4. Money talks