WILL TRUMP RISK "OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE" AND WIRE-FRAUD?
 |
| VISITING TIMES RESTRICTED |
Unimpeachable - Can Trump run the White House from a prison cell?
His most inexcusable, inescapable crimes are likely to be tax-fraud and money-laundering.
His close colleague Manafort is in jail for such crimes - and his personal lawyer,
Cohen, is also sentenced (Dec 2018) for tax-fraud and wire fraud, among other crimes.
But has Trump ("I'm smart, I don't pay tax") avoided using similar illegal dodges,
in his past 50 years of business?
His most inexcusable, inescapable crimes are likely to be tax-fraud and money-laundering.
His close colleague Manafort is in jail for such crimes - and his personal lawyer,
Cohen, is also sentenced (Dec 2018) for tax-fraud and wire fraud, among other crimes.
But has Trump ("I'm smart, I don't pay tax") avoided using similar illegal dodges,
in his past 50 years of business?
UPDATE 13 DECEMBER 2018 - MICHAEL COHEN SENTENCING
(CNN DEC 13TH 2018) President Donald Trump publicly broke his silence Thursday morning on the sentencing of his former personal attorney and "fixer" Michael Cohen.
"I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law. He was a lawyer and he is supposed to know the law," Trump tweeted.
"It is called 'advice of counsel,' and a lawyer has great liability if a mistake is made," he added.
Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison Wednesday for crimes that included making false statements to Congress, tax evasion, and arranging payments during the 2016 election to silence women who claimed they had affairs with Trump. Trump denies those claims. Cohen attributed his offenses related to Trump to his "duty to cover up his dirty deeds."
UPDATE 24 August 2018
Even if Trump manages to fire Mueller, which is unlikely, the cases against the Trump camp will continue in Southern District New York; because Trump, arguably, might have presidential authority over Federal cases - but not over District Attorneys. Charges in New York are multiplying.
An extract from VOX.
https://www.vox.com/2018/8/21/17765566/michael-cohen-plea-deal-trump-mueller
Asha Rangappa, former FBI agent and senior lecturer, Yale University
It remains to be seen whether or not Michael Cohen has any valuable information to offer to prosecutors that may be able to reduce his sentence for the charges he is now pleading guilty to. Most of the focus has been on the information he could potentially provide to Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller in the Russia probe.
But a potentially bigger threat to President Trump is what Cohen could provide to the Southern District of New York about potential crimes committed by Trump or members of his family that are unrelated to the Russia probe. Michael Cohen, as Trump’s longtime “fixer” knows where the proverbial bodies are buried when it comes to the Trump Organization and particularly its finances going back many, many years.
If Cohen provided information on potentially criminal activities to the Southern District and it opened an investigation into them, it would place the President in a double bind: First, since it would be an investigation separate and apart from the Mueller probe, he wouldn’t be able to argue that the Special Counsel exceeded his mandate or crossed a “red line” — after all, any U.S. Attorney’s office is legally authorized (and duty-bound) to investigate any violations of federal law it learns about.
More importantly, such an investigation would be completely insulated from any steps Trump might take to fire Mueller, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, or even Attorney General Jeff Sessions (especially since his interim pick to head the Southern District who recused himself from overseeing the Cohen investigation, would undoubtedly recuse himself from any other Trump-related investigation as well). So Trump has much more to fear from Cohen than just what he knows about Russia-related matters.
UPDATE - 23 August 2018 - MAIL AND WIRE FRAUD - Is Trump in jeopardy? Would the prosecutors have gone so far unless they know they can finish the job?
From: Noel Hodson
<noel@noelhodson.com>
Sent: 23 August 2018 10:31
Subject: RE: The Ghost Companies Connected To Suspected Money Laundering, Corruption, And Paul Manafort
Sent: 23 August 2018 10:31
Subject: RE: The Ghost Companies Connected To Suspected Money Laundering, Corruption, And Paul Manafort
The Ghost Companies Connected To Suspected Money Laundering,
Corruption, And Paul Manafort
Hi – Thanks for the very thorough Buzz Feed article on dummy companies. This statement in the article is wrong:
“While avoiding tax is legal, Brooks said the UK remains an
attractive destination for money launders because of the “layer of legitimacy”
it provides and the “ready supply of people” proficient at setting up shell
companies.”
It is not “legal”. To pay no tax, the owners keep two sets of
books, like Al Capone – Reality and Fraudulent. This is illegal criminal
False-Accounting in all OECD and most other countries. In America the criminal
charges carry long prison sentences and include Fraudulent Conspiracy and Wire
Fraud. This latter comes from the days of the telegraph – it now applies to all
types of communications that transfer assets. Whoever signs the false
transactions and tax-returns is criminal e.g. Cohen; whoever controls the
transactions (A director by whatever name called) usually the owner/s is
criminal e.g. Manafort or Trump. A prime example of very complex bookkeeping
criminal behaviour is ENRON – albeit that it was also a major fraud, signed off
by Arthur Andersen. It is highly likely that Trump “I’m smart, I don’t pay tax”
who has many offshore and onshore companies from aged 25 to date, is guilty of
False-Accounting – his campaign excuse for not publishing his Tax Returns was
that he was being investigated by the IRS. I guess (professionally) that
Mueller and team, now including the New York South Courts, have all the IRS
data and have traced all of Trump’s transactions in fine detail. If Trump now
“pardons” Manafort for money-laundering and tax-evasion on $70 million, he will
risk an Obstruction of Justice charge which will probably result in prison –
either while president or afterwards.
America cannot afford to let crooks break
the laws and evade tax and succeed in money-laundering; imagine if everyone did
it. - TAX RECONCILIATIONS, OXFORD.
Penalties You Could Face If
Convicted of Mail or Wire Fraud
You would
face serious consequences if convicted of either mail or wire fraud. If you are
convicted of mail fraud, you could be sentenced to the following:
- Prison sentence of up to 20 years
- Fines up to $250,000
- Probation
- Restitution
A person
charged with wire fraud can face a separate charge for each act of fraud. For a
single conviction of wire fraud, you could face the following penalties:
- Prison sentence of up to 20 years
- Fines not exceeding $250,000
*******
UPDATE - 17th April 2018 - TIME MAGAZINE
Nearly 500 former Department of Justice employees have signed on to a statement calling on Congress to “swiftly and forcefully” intervene if President Trump moves to oust Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
First published on Friday, the letter has since garnered 496 signatures. Concern about the future of Special Counsel Mueller, who is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing that investigation, has grown in the past week as Trump has publicly fumed over a raid on his attorney Michael Cohen’s office and hotel room.
In the statement, which was published on Medium, former Justice officials say they have been “deeply disturbed” by the President’s attacks on the Department of Justice. “Not only is it an insult to their public service, but any attempt to corrupt or undermine the even-handed application of the rule of law threatens the foundation of our Republic,” the letter reads.
UPDATE - 5th April 2018. THE GUARDIAN
Exclusive: Paul Manafort authorised secret media
operation that sought to discredit key opponent of then Ukrainian president
Thu 5 Apr 2018 16.00 BST Last modified on Fri 6
Apr 2018 01.00 BST
Donald Trump’s former campaign
manager Paul Manafort authorised
a secret media operation on behalf of Ukraine’s former president featuring
“black ops”, “placed” articles in the Wall Street Journal and US websites and
anonymous briefings against Hillary Clinton.
The project was designed to boost the reputation of
Ukraine’s then
leader, Viktor Yanukovych. It was part
of a multimillion-dollar lobbying effort carried out by Manafort on behalf of
Yanukovych’s embattled government, emails and documents reveal.
The strategies included:
• Proposing to rewrite Wikipedia entries to smear a
key opponent of the then Ukrainian president.
• Setting up a fake thinktank in Vienna to disseminate
viewpoints supporting Yanukovych.
• A social media blitz “aimed at targeted audiences
in https://www.theguardian.com/world/europe-news and the US”.
• Briefing journalists from the rightwing website
Breitbart to attack Clinton when she was US secretary of state.
Manafort’s https://www.theguardian.com/world/ukraine strategy
anticipated later efforts by the Kremlin and its troll factory to use Twitter
and Facebook to discredit Clinton and to help Trump win the 2016 US election.
The material seen by the Guardian dates from 2011 to 2013.
Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating claims
of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, has indicted Manafort on
multiple counts. Manafort is accused from
his lobbying work in Ukraine, carried out over a period of a decade for
Yanukovych and his political party. THE GUARDIAN
"Republicans Don’t
Think They Need to Protect Robert Mueller From Being Fired By Trump - TIME MAGAZINE 21 March 2018."
If Trump sacks Mueller in the middle of Mueller's criminal investigations, where charges have already been brought against some of Trump's colleagues, the President risks being charged with Obstruction of Justice, which is a serious charge. Previous Presidents have suffered such charges, followed by impeachment.
My field, with 40 years experience, is tax and accountancy. My guess is that after the charges against Trump's friend Manafort - charged with Wire Fraud, Tax Fraud, Money Laundering and other crimes, with potential penalties of 30 years in goal and $70 million in fines, Trump will be well advised to keep a low profile. After bragging in his campaign that "I'm Smart. I Don't Pay Tax", it is likely that Trump could have to answer similar questions. Keeping his head down and below the parapet is probably the best strategy.
MANAFORT INDICTMENT - The Full Text. The confiscations of money and houses are in the last few pages.
TRUMP - MUELLER - ARRESTS
Obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, is the crime of obstructing prosecutors or other (usually government) officials. Common law jurisdictions other than the United States tend to use the wider offense of perverting the course of justice.
IN BRIEF: Large fines and up to 5 years in prison.
(a)
Whoever willfully endeavors by means of bribery to obstruct, delay, or prevent the communication of information relating to a violation of any criminal statute of the United States by any person to a criminal investigator shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
information that has been furnished in response to that subpoena, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.
any other person named in that subpoena;
about the existence or contents of that subpoena or information that has been furnished in response to that subpoena, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
the term “an officer of a financial institution” means an officer, director, partner, employee, agent, or attorney of or for a financial institution; and
(B) the term “subpoena for records” means a Federal grand jury subpoena or a Department of Justice subpoena (issued under section 3486 of title 18), for customer records that has been served relating to a violation of, or a conspiracy to violate—
section 215, 656, 657, 1005, 1006, 1007, 1014, 1344, 1956, 1957, or chapter 53 of title 31; or
As used in this section, the term “criminal investigator” means any individual duly authorized by a department, agency, or armed force of the United States to conduct or engage in investigations of or prosecutions for violations of the criminal laws of the United States.
acting as, or being, an officer, director, agent or employee of a person engaged in the business of insurance whose activities affect interstate commerce, or
18 U.S. Code § 1505 - Obstruction of proceedings before departments, agencies, and committees
Whoever, with intent to avoid, evade, prevent, or obstruct compliance, in whole or in part, with any civil investigative demand duly and properly made under the Antitrust Civil Process Act, willfully withholds, misrepresents, removes from any place, conceals, covers up, destroys, mutilates, alters, or by other means falsifies any documentary material, answers to written interrogatories, or oral testimony, which is the subject of such demand; or attempts to do so or solicits another to do so; or
Whoever corruptly, or by threats or force, or by any threatening letter or communication influences, obstructs, or impedes or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede the due and proper administration of the law under which any pending proceeding is being had before any department or agency of the United States, or the due and proper exercise of the power of inquiry under which any inquiry or investigation is being had by either House, or any committee of either House or any joint committee of the Congress—
Shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years or, if the offense involves international or domestic terrorism (as defined in section 2331), imprisoned not more than 8 years, or both.
No comments:
Post a Comment