News reports listed TFG + family hotel/condo scams for years -- from ProPublica in 2018...

[allegorical oracle]

Bob Barr yesterday seemed shocked that NY AG Leticia James included "Trump kids" in her filing. Evidence in news reports for years revealed Donald, Don Jr., and Ivanka were especially active. This piece focused on TFG and Ivanka.

https://propublica.org/article/here-are-the-trump-project-where-ivanka-and-her-dad-misled-buyers

"A pattern of deception ran through the Trumps’ real estate deals since the mid-2000s. Not only were the Trumps more than the mere licensors they claimed to be, extracting millions in fees from nearly every facet of these projects, but they often misled buyers and investors on key information — such as the level of sales and the Trumps’ role and investment in the deals."

Dominican Republic 2007-2008 - TFG claims $365M in sales to WSJ; audit shows $290M in sales; project never built.

Fort Lauderdale 2006 - TFG claims units "pretty much sold out"; 62% sold; foreclosed, Trump name removed.

Las Vegas 2008 - Ivanka claims 90% sold; actual pre-sales were 79%; built, went bankrupt, Trump name removed.

NY Soho 2008 - Ivanka claims 60% sold; affadavit shows 15% sold; built, went bankrupt, Trump name removed.

Tampa 2007 - TFG claims "sold out" to WSJ; fewer than 70% sold; never built.

Toronto 2009 - Ivanka claims "virtually sold out"; built, went bankrupt, Trump name removed.

[True Blue American]

1. I do not feel sorry for any of them.

Am not too impressed with Mary Trump either! My email is flooded with requests for money. I feel she is trying to latch on to the same thing. Outside of hating her Uncle I have no idea why she needs money. She is fighting something,or other.

[allegorical oracle]

33. Last I heard, she was suing her uncle Former Guy for bilking her dad, Fred Jr., outta his share of

Fred Sr.'s last will and testament. Wonder what happened to that.

[True Blue American]

37. I hope she does and wins.

[secondwind]

2. They sure were, ARE, greedy little fu#kers.

[Scrivener7]

3. Yeah. Those poor thieving mobbed-up kids. I'm just sorry Jared's name isn't

listed among them.

[3Hotdogs]

7. I expect Jar-Jar's name will be announced as indicted,

when they figure out why he got the $B loan. Especially since his company was already in financial trouble.

Were the Saudis willing to piss that money away in exchange for ......

[Scrivener7]

8. LoanS. Let's not forget the 1.4 billion from Qatar. In addition to the 2 billion from the Saudis.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. Let's look at those college degrees

TFG: Wharton School of Business
DJT Jr.: Wharton School of Business
Ivanka: Georgetown/Wharton
Eric: Georgetown

You can't tell me that with all that specialized education and stewardship from TFG, all or any of those "kids" didn't know what was going on. They had reports. They had spreadsheets. They had accountants. They signed off on stuff.

Reminds me of how Martha Stewart claimed that she didn't understand the concept of insider trading when in fact, she had been a registered stock broker in the Seventies.

[allegorical oracle]

34. Difference is that Martha got nailed and served time.

[JohnSJ]

5. and who were the people that turned their backs on these abuses for years? They need to

be weeded out also for not doing their jobs

[Doodley]

6. They will never be found guilty because any Jury will have at least two or three hardline MAGAs.

[Tadpole Raisin]

9. Remember this one?

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/13/donald-trumps-worst-deal

The building, a five-star hotel and residence called the Trump International Hotel & Tower Baku, has never opened, though from the road it looks ready to welcome the public. Reaching the property is surprisingly difficult; the tower stands amid a welter of on-ramps, off-ramps, and overpasses. During the nine days I was in town, I went to the site half a dozen times, and on each occasion I had a comical exchange with a taxi-driver who had no idea which combination of turns would lead to the building’s entrance.

The more time I spent in the neighborhood, the more I wondered how the hotel could have been imagined as a viable business. The development was conceived, in 2008, as a high-end apartment building. In 2012, after Donald Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, signed multiple contracts with the Azerbaijani developers behind the project, plans were made to transform the tower into an “ultra-luxury property.” According to a Trump Organization press release, a hotel with “expansive guest rooms” would occupy the first thirteen floors; higher stories would feature residences with “spectacular views of the city and Caspian Sea.” For an expensive hotel, the Trump Tower Baku is in an oddly unglamorous location: the underdeveloped eastern end of downtown, which is dominated by train tracks and is miles from the main business district, on the west side of the city. Across the street from the hotel is a discount shopping center; the area is filled with narrow, dingy shops and hookah bars. Other hotels nearby are low-budget options: at the AYF Palace, most rooms are forty-two dollars a night. There are no upscale restaurants or shops. Any guests of the Trump Tower Baku would likely feel marooned.

And Ivanka made a video about this luxury building while in one of the units - of a completely different hotel.

I was apoplectic about this. Crickets for any legal action. Why wouldn’t he feel he’s invincible. Too bad Leticia James couldn’t include this in her scam list.

[dalton99a]

10. +1

The Azerbaijanis behind the project were close relatives of Ziya Mammadov, the Transportation Minister and one of the country’s wealthiest and most powerful oligarchs. According to the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, Azerbaijan is among the most corrupt nations in the world. Its President, Ilham Aliyev, the son of the former President Heydar Aliyev, recently appointed his wife to be Vice-President. Ziya Mammadov became the Transportation Minister in 2002, around the time that the regime began receiving enormous profits from government-owned oil reserves in the Caspian Sea. At the time of the hotel deal, Mammadov, a career government official, had a salary of about twelve thousand dollars, but he was a billionaire.

[Botany]

11. Don't forget "Trump Baja" where they took in millions for Condos about 30 miles south of the ....

... south of the border that were never built.

Ivanka told potential buyers that she was going to be living in the same building
and she would be stopping over to borrow a cup of sugar. She never put one penny
into buying into those condos. Don Jr. did the same thing about he was going to be
"living there" but had no intention on living there.

This was public knowledge in 2016 but the media never pushed the story.


https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-baja-snap-story.html

[AverageOldGuy]

13. You beat me to it , , ,

See my comment -- that's the one I remember reading about.

[dalton99a]

14. The whole family is a bunch of criminals

[Botany]

17. They stole money from the widows of American troops killed or wounded in Iraq and ....

... Afghanistan with their phony ass Trump University. "Hey ever thought of a career in real estate?"
As a sales pitch to lure in a newly widowed mothers and get their military death benefits to pay for
useless classes in real estate @ Trump U. so they could get into the high paying world of real estate
sales and stay home with the kids.

[AverageOldGuy]

12. I remember reading . . .

. . . an article that described how Trump and Ivanka promoted one of his developments that was never built -- may have been in California. Seems that Ivanka was the chief sales agent, attending several lavish pre-construction parties, cozying up to prospective buyers, telling them she had already purchased a couple of units and she would be their neighbor, they could drop by and visit her anytime after they moved in. The place was never built.

One question: As I recall, one of Trump's practices was to sell units before construction started after buyers had laid down a hefty deposit. So -- for those that were never built, what happened to the deposits?

[Phoenix61]

25. Legally, the deposit should be refunded.

https://www.condoblackbook.com/blog/comprehensive-guide-to-buying-a-pre-construction-property-or-condo-in-miami#toc03

[allegorical oracle]

35. An attorney who handled numerous of those lawsuits re the hotels/condos was on CNN this a.m. Didn't

catch his name, but said many of the people who pre-bought got $$ refunded. Minus his fee(?)

[Lonestarblue]

15. Law enforcement agencies--state and federal--knew the Trump family was a crime syndicate.

They did nothing. To the list of fraudulent developments listed by commenters, we could add money laundering through his Atlantic City casinos. Instead of being indicted, Trump got a slap on the wrist with a fine of a few million dollars.

How did they get away with all this? Probably the usual way with a few bribes to the right people. Plus, the US justice system has never been very serious about what it considers white collar crime. Trump’s reputed fortune also most likely protected him in that he was known for hiring multitudes of lawyers who would tie everything up in courts for years—in other words, law enforcement often lacked the will and the resources to tackle the Trump family crimes.

[Joinfortmill]

29. Well, the country paid for their laziness and lack of prosecurtorial vigor. So fuck them, too.

[Stuart G]

16. Most important idea of all, "These fools were sure they were going to get away with it."...

.....with , ...........NO COSEQUENCES AT ALL...NONE, NADA, EMPTY, ZERO, LA LA, AND SO ON...& ON...& ON.

..................THE ABOVE SENTENCE IT IS...NOT PART OF IT, BUT ALL OF IT!!!.....

..................wELL...........i GUESS THEY WERE WRONG...couldn't happen to more deserving crooks.

[speak easy]

18. forget the chickens,

the roosters are coming home to roost

[SouthernDem4ever]

19. Trump has been breaking the law since before he even ran in the primaries in 2015

That's why it is sad that our country would put an obviously known crook in the white house. It has cost our country a lot!

[niyad]

22. velveeta voldemort was breaking the law in the early '70's., and he and

daddy were fined by the feds. Clearly, that did not stop them. NYT had a lengthy article about how corrupt the organization is years ago.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

20. Ivanka and Jared knee deep in all of this!

[vlyons]

21. Good grief what a record of failure and corruption

Am I supposed to feel sorry for the duped investors? Anyone doing business with them is an idiot. It's time that reality sets in with those people. Take away their corporate license. Disallow them to do business in NY. Force them to sell off properties. and later --- let the IRS go after their asses.

[niyad]

23. Certainly after the casino debacles, anybody with two arcing brain cells should

have known, and that includes anybody who chose to work for them.

[allegorical oracle]

36. Starstruck idiots. He was a Tee Hee celeb. I heard him say in an interview that since he was a

celebrity, he shouldn't ever have to pay more than 70 percent for anything.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

24. Good thing Ivana died.

This would have killed her.

[erronis]

28. I see what you did there.... "thong"

tfg liked them in thongs....

[SleeplessinSoCal]

30. Me, and my typos! strolimg doun tge Avenue.

[twodogsbarking]

26. Or they.

[Joinfortmill]

27. Time for Billy Barr to crawl back into his hole.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

31. is the mid 2000s when they had a tv "reality" show?

Yes. 2004-2017. Strange how they believed that would provide cover for dirty business practices somehow.

You can bet there's a lot more people doing this kind of crap.

[Danascot]

32. Then there was the project in Panama

Ivanka's baby that was rife with involvement with Columbian drug money, Russian organized crime, money laundering and enough red flags for a military parade in Moscow.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/panama-tower-carries-trump-s-name-ties-organized-crime-n821706

[Mr.Bill]

38. There had to be a lot of government officials

who were aware of this and did nothing.

That needs to be the next investigation.