New York sues Trump family foundation

cbenoi1

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https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/14/politics/new-york-lawsuit-trump-foundation/index.html

The New York attorney general is suing President Donald Trump's charitable foundation along with its directors -- the President, his sons Eric and Donald Jr. and daughter Ivanka, alleging they violated state and federal charities law.

Attorney General Barbara Underwood alleges a pattern of persistent illegal conduct over more than a decade that includes extensive unlawful political coordination with the Trump presidential campaign.

Happy birthday, mr. president (lowercase 'p').

Thoughts & prayers.

-cb
 

Larry M

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I did not read the story, so my apologies if this question was answered there. If 45 and the others allegedly broke laws, why isn't the NYAG indicting them rather than suing?
 

regdog

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Proof the accusations are true, Twitter rant

Link
 

MaeZe

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I did not read the story, so my apologies if this question was answered there. If 45 and the others allegedly broke laws, why isn't the NYAG indicting them rather than suing?

Not sure but I suspect the lawsuit signifies civil and not criminal charges, the latter being harder to prove because you must prove criminal intent.
 

blacbird

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Not sure but I suspect the lawsuit signifies civil and not criminal charges, the latter being harder to prove because you must prove criminal intent.

Pretty much correct, methinks. There is also a lower standard for conviction in a civil case, resting on a preponderance of evidence rather than "beyond a reasonable doubt".

But conviction in a civil action does not in any way preclude later prosecution on criminal charges; it is not a violation of double jeopardy.

caw
 

MaeZe

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It should be noted that along with the 'lawsuit' referrals were made for criminal charges such as to the IRS for tax fraud.
 

cbenoi1

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Not sure but I suspect the lawsuit signifies civil and not criminal charges, the latter being harder to prove because you must prove criminal intent.
I lean toward criminal charges - but against the Foundation. It's not that hard to believe prosecutors have that proof. There might be criminal charges against individual directors later when the court can provide proof who signed off on the money transfers.

-cb
 

frimble3

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But conviction in a civil action does not in any way preclude later prosecution on criminal charges; it is not a violation of double jeopardy.

caw
Which presumably means that all the evidence can be used again, for criminal charges?
 

SWest

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Which presumably means that all the evidence can be used again, for criminal charges?

Sure. Evidence will have to show criminal activity was in play, but if the cement shoe fits...

Nice thing about going Civil first is that the Trump Organized Entity can be forced to make timely restitution, and be more quickly banned from running another 'charitable' foundation for a decade. Preventing another election fleecing of the sheep.
 

Xelebes

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Beautiful timing!

I'm still waiting for something to matter... maybe this'll be the first chink in the teflon?


Perhaps but a big one was on Friday morning. I actually saw a few Trump supporters recoil from his interview with Fox News. Especially the part that he wanted to see the US people act like North Koreans when they are worshipping their leaders. Maybe not a lot, but it can add up.
 

MaeZe

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Another aspect: Donors to the faux foundation who knew they were making political donations disguised as charitable donations might be in trouble, not just for campaign finance law violations, but tax fraud if they then took said donations as a tax write off. Maybe just a fine and a requirement to pay back taxes but it is possible there could be criminal charges.
 

MaeZe

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Here's some history with so much Trump news flooding in, I had forgotten:

BBC: What's the deal with the Trump Foundation?
Questionable donations: As Mr Trump began attempting to curry favour with Republicans in recent years, more of his donations have been directed to conservative causes. In 2014 he made a $10,000 donation to the American Spectator Foundation, the nonprofit group that publishes the arch-conservative magazine of the same name.

The Trump Foundation also made a $100,000 donation - its largest gift of that year - to Citizens United, a conservative group best known for a lawsuit that ended with the US Supreme Court striking down limits on many of the kinds of political campaign donations Mr Trump has criticised during his candidacy.

These kinds of donations, while representing a shift in the foundation's charitable giving patterns, are perfectly legal. In 2013, however, the Trump Foundation made a $25,000 contribution to "And Justice for All", a campaign committee supporting Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. Political donations of this kind from a charitable foundation are prohibited. When the contribution was discovered in 2016, Mr Trump moved $25,000 from his personal account to compensate his foundation and paid a $2,500 IRS fine. Trump Foundation representatives have said the contribution was made in error.

As multiple news outlets have pointed out, the original donation arrived just days after Florida announced it was not joining a multi-state lawsuit against Trump University - a Trump-branded for-profit company that offered real-estate seminars and has been accused of fraud. A New York Times open-records request found no evidence that Ms Bondi was directly involved in that decision, however.

I recall during this time that Trump was using Foundation money to make donations Trump took personal credit for despite not one dime being his actual money. And as was mentioned (I think), the foundation paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort to hold fundraising events.


It's all coming back to me now.
 

zerosystem

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Who wants to bet the GOP will resume beating the dead horse of the Clinton Foundation again as a distraction?
 

Larry M

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Who wants to bet the GOP will resume beating the dead horse of the Clinton Foundation again as a distraction?

That was my thought too. I hear this from people I know personally who still support 45. They so badly want to believe that Hillary and Bill are evil criminals, it's sad and scary.
 

shakeysix

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Did anyone see Colbert the other night? His birthday gift for Trump was solid gold cufflinks--then he produced a pair of golden handcuffs. The audience roared.

Why aren't comedians roasting Clinton? She's old news. The majority of people are tired of the Hilary/Obama/hater crap. How do I know this? They decided that Roseanne isn't funny anymore. Popular opinion isn't only gauged by election polls. National Comedy is also a poll. --s6

--s6
 
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