Note: My commentary below contains excerpts from the 11/22/2016 Washington Post article Trump Foundation admits to violating ban on "self-dealing", new filing to IRS shows by David Fahrenthold.
Donald Trump and trophy wife #3 (former nude model Melania Knauss) pose with one of the painters (speed painter Michael Israel) who created paintings of Trump that the Donald or trophy wife used foundation money to purchase ($20k for a 6-foot-tall portrait by Israel and 10k for a 4-foot painting by Havi Schanz).
The #notmypresident-elect also paid 12k in a charity auction for a Tim Tebow-signed football helmet. The issue is that items paid for with money from a charitable foundation MUST be put to charitable use. Trump using foundation money to pay for items for personal use is illegal (it's called "self dealing").
Trump also "settled a dispute with the town of Palm Beach FL over a large flagpole he erected at his Mar-a-Lago Club. The town agreed to waive $120,000 in unpaid fines if Trump's club donated $100,000 to Fisher House, a charity helping wounded veterans and military personnel"... and Trump made the donation with foundation money! More self-dealing.
Additionally "Trump's golf course in New York's Westchester County was sued by a man who had won a $1 million hole-in-one prize during a tournament at the course. The man was later denied the money because Trump's course had allegedly made the hole too short for the prize to be valid... the Trump Foundation donated $158k to the unhappy golfer's charity (afterwhich the lawsuit was settled)".
As per the title of the WP article, "President-elect Donald Trump's charitable foundation has admitted to the Internal Revenue Service that it violated a legal prohibition against self-dealing, which bars nonprofit leaders from using their charity’s money to help themselves, their businesses or their families. The admission was contained in the Donald J. Trump Foundation's IRS tax filings for 2015, which were... uploaded by the Trump Foundation's law firm, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius".
This admission that the Foundation broke the law is NEW. Previously they said they did not break the law, now they said they did. Break the self-dealing law numerous times in multiple years. Note that the lies from the foundation were necessitated by actions of Donald and trophy wife. They are the ones who broke the law.
In essence Trump STOLE money from his foundation contributors. They thought they were giving money for the foundation to put to charitable use, not for Trump to buy shit for himself or settle personal lawsuits.
Which makes me wonder, now that the theft of foundation money has been admitted to, what are the consequences? Jail time for Trump? Unfortunately, no. According to IRS tax code "IRC 6684(2) imposes a penalty upon a person who becomes liable for a tax under IRC 4941 for actions that are willful and flagrant, and not due to reasonable cause. The penalty is equal to the amount of the tax imposed under IRC 4941".
I don't know about you, but that penalty sounds a little light for what amounts to theft. 258K according to the Washington post. Money Trump STOLE "from his charitable foundation to settle lawsuits that involved the [supposed] billionaire's for-profit businesses" (Trump used $258,000 from his charity to settle legal problems).
Crooked piece of shit. Now that he's been "elected" preznit he's quietly paying back some of what he's stolen... using the excuse that he doesn't have the time for legal fights. His excuse when he settled the "Trump University" fraud case. Although he will pay $25 million (21 mil for the defrauded students & 4 mil for the lawyers)... but most students will only be able to recoup half of the money they were scammed out of.
Clarification for the blog troll/dipshit Luke AKA TOM: You are wrong re your comment that my post presents no new information. Prior to the election Trump was accused of self-dealing but denied it. Now his foundation has released tax documents that show he lied. This happened AFTER the election.
ReplyDeleteAs for your challenge for me to comment on your blog (or I am a coward)... send me an invitation to become a "team member" or allow anyone to comment. If I email you a comment you won't publish it. You didn't publish me before you restricted comments... which you did because YOU are the coward. Oh, and re you saying you "win"... wrong. I won because I effectively shut down your blog. Zero comments since you added the message that people should email comments to you. Ha ha ha ha ha.
I'm probably the only person who looks at your blog. Which I do because it's good for a laugh. For example, your 11/27/2016 commentary in which you claim that the Left's objections to voter suppression is "deplorable" and therefore on par with racism and bigotry. Even though many of those targeted for suppression are minorities.
And your claim that Dems can somehow throw out the Constitution. Impossible. That Trump is trying to stop the recounts (even though he CLAIMS millions voted illegally) is suspect. Why would he object if a recount would prove him right? Recounts are allowed for under the rules. No throwing out of Constitution is occurring, idiot.
BTW, I LOLed when I read your lie-filled post about what happened the "mourning" after the election. People were in mourning, but I'm pretty sure you meant "morning" (this from the moron who accuses others of not being able to spell). I think Luke did not graduate high school. Ha ha ha ha ha.
Also, re your claim that "Then the street protests, and of course the violence. People got shot!"... Seattle police say shooting, protests not linked. Just one of the many lies in your post.
The deplorables were scammed by the CONmander on Chief.
ReplyDeleteThat was supposed to be CONmander in Chief.
DeleteI guess this is our last great hope. Trump may continue his double-dealing well into his presidency uncovering dozens of serious conflicts-of-interest. If it is proven that he has lied about divestment or otherwise sought to deceive the public, he may well be impeached and convicted of malfeasance in office.
ReplyDelete