This appears to be the statute upon which the Trump indictment is based:

[Atticus]

"175.10 Falsifying business records in the first degree.
A person is guilty of falsifying business records in the first degree
when he commits the crime of falsifying business records in the second
degree, and when his intent to defraud includes an intent to commit
another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof.

Falsifying business records in the first degree is a class E felony."

"Another crime" is not limited to New York state crimes.

"Intent to commit" does not require that the crime be actually committed.

"Aid or conceal" is pretty straightforward.

If a jury ever get this case, how could they not convict---just based on what has already been made public?

Or, is my naivete showing?

[ProudMNDemocrat]

1. The University snd Charity were FRAUDS

Both with the intention to commit FRAUD. Both shut down. Those are the facts.

[brooklynite]

7. ...which have nothing to do with the paYments to Cohen.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

9. There is a pattern here from east I can tell.

Taking monies from different pots for purposes not legal.

[brooklynite]

2. What is the other crime?

Not reporting a bribe to Stormy Daniels as a campaign expense? That would seem pretty weak.

[tinrobot]

25. Tax evasion could be one of the crimes.

If he deducted the payments as a "business expense", it would certainly be a tax issue.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. IMO, there's more than mere falsifying business records.

If you falsify business records, there are at least two other related crimes: to skirt election laws to hide a donation and/or to receive an undeserved deduction of business expenses from the Internal Revenue Service. As per the latter, I can't believe that TFG wouldn't use the $130,000 business notation as part of business deductions for 2016.

[gab13by13]

4. Conspiracy will be one of the crimes

This is where Pecker is involved and maybe Weisselberg if he flipped.

Tax fraud should be another. Why hasn't the IRS gotten involved?

[Irish_Dem]

6. Kellyanne Conway was at those meetings too, but few mention her.

I wonder why Weisselberg would flip now, isn't his sentence almost up?

[agingdem]

15. because Weisselberg could face more charges of

and that means more prison time...he's 75 years old and probably not in the best of health so there's a real possibility he could die behind bars..we don't know if Allen has flipped but living out his remaining years in Rikers or living out his remaining years a free man would probably warrant a serious sit-down with the prosecution

[Irish_Dem]

17. Thanks. I didn't know there were more possible charges.

One of the pundits on TV said he thought Weisselberg flipped.
Weisselberg is a custom suit and manicure type guy.
And Rikers is one of the worst prisons in the country.

Prison time may have focused his mind.

[Qutzupalotl]

34. Evidently the conjecture about flipping was premature.

A later report indicated the Trump Organization is also paying Weisselberg's new lawyer. So this appears to be a personnel change without a significant change in plea. Perhaps we'll know more next week.

[Irish_Dem]

35. Yes we will find out what happened as the charges are revealed.

[BumRushDaShow]

21. "Why hasn't the IRS gotten involved?"

They most likely are. NY AG James referred 45 (et al) to DOJ and the IRS for criminal tax fraud as the state AG cannot handle "criminal" prosecutions, only "civil" ones) based on her investigation that included whatever years had not yet gone outside of the statute of limitations.

James said she believes state and criminal laws may have been violated and referred the matter to the US attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York and the Internal Revenue Service.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142972139

And note that before all this, 45's hand-picked financial protection squad consisting of Treasury Sectary Steve Mnuchin and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, made sure to block any audits, investigations, disclosures, and releases (absent a court order, which took years to move through each level of the judicial system).

There were a billion threads on that nightmare of Mnuchin and Rettig.

I had a summary post on this here - https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=2986675 once an Appeals Court ruled that the House Ways and Means Committee (then chaired by a Democrat) could have access to the tax returns.

As a note, Biden FINALLY got his latest IRS Commissioner nominee confirmed 3 weeks ago.

[Irish_Dem]

5. I am curious if Trump paid for sex with Stormy in the first place.

The reports are that they had an "affair" which does not usually mean paying a sex worker?

If he did pay her for sex, he probably tried to use that as a tax deduction too.

[bucolic_frolic]

10. gee

what kind of girl do you think she is?

[Irish_Dem]

11. Maybe she thought Trump was drop dead handsome with tons of sex appeal.

[bucolic_frolic]

13. yeah, that was it

or any of several other possible motives.

She thought there was as much bloat in the wallet as in the paunch. She was right about that.

It wasn't sex for money, and had nothing to do with political campaigns. She found the conquest so pleasing he had to pay her to go away, just to save his marriage.

[Irish_Dem]

14. Men don't pay women for sex, they pay them to go away when the sex is over?

I don't think Melania cared about Trump and prostitutes.
The marriage was a business decision for her.

She has stayed with Trump despite everything.

[bucolic_frolic]

16. Has it ever been tried as a defense? If not, TDFG could have a go. Make it up as he goes along. /nt

[Irish_Dem]

18. Trump may try every trick in the book and fight like hell.

Or he may be able to cop a plea and just pay some fines.

[Paper Roses]

31. Barf! n/t

[Mysterian]

12. LOL

Do you wonder a lot?

[tinrobot]

26. He promised her a spot on 'The Apprentice'

That would have been worth something.

Of course, he never pays his bills.

[Irish_Dem]

33. I guess Trump is correct, it was a business deal. :(

[KPN]

32. Lol. A business expense! Based on what we knowabout him, of course he did.

It was probably a "business lunch".

[bucolic_frolic]

8. How about those overinflated assets for bank loans, but undervalued for tax purposes?

Those would seem to have some numbers behind the smoke and mirrors

[Walleye]

19. I just feel if they dig deep enough they will find some laundering of Russian money. what he does

[SouthernDem4ever]

20. I know right?

[paleotn]

22. Depends on a jury and humans aren't always rational beings.

That's my fear.

[markie]

23. "humans aren't always rational beings"

proven by the fact that he has followers and they donated 4M in the past few days...

I truly hope that the jury is chosen wisely

[emulatorloo]

24. There's reporting in CNN and elsewhere that that there are 30+ counts of fraudulent business

practices. So I believe there is much more to this than Stormy Daniels. I guess we’ll find out the details on Tuesday.

[BumRushDaShow]

27. It's possible that

Karen McDougal is being rolled into this -

Manhattan district attorney asks about hush money paid to former Playboy model Karen McDougal


By Kara Scannell, CNN
Updated 7:18 PM EDT, Thu March 30, 2023


New York CNN — The Manhattan district attorney’s office has been asking questions during grand jury proceedings about a hush money scheme known as a “catch and kill” deal aimed at covering up an alleged affair between former President Donald Trump and a former playboy model before the 2016 presidential election, two people familiar with the matter said.

Prosecutors have asked at least one witness questions about a $150,000 payment the publisher of the National Enquirer made to the model, Karen McDougal, to buy her story about the alleged affair with Trump, the people said.

The grand jury, which has been investigating Trump’s alleged role in a $130,000 hush-money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, has indicted the former president in connection to that scheme, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

The indictment has been filed under seal and will be announced in the coming days. The charges are not publicly known at this time, one source told CNN. Trump will likely be arraigned in court early next week, according to his defense attorney, Joe Tacopina.

(snip)

https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/30/politics/karen-mcdougal-trump-grand-jury/index.html

Both she and Stormy Daniels had NDAs but Stormy's was the one that spilled out into the media. The "reimbursements" were apparently done in a similar fashion. Cohen was repaid for his outlay in the guise of a monthly "legal retainer", but what will be interesting to find out is how Pecker was "paid" (or "reimbursed" ) and what "justification" was used for the ledger/financial record-keeping so that Pecker could hand that $$$ to McDougal.

One of the things I had hoped that any of the MSNBC pundits would have mentioned was that in order to even have happen what just happened, NY state had to change their law to allow what could be construed as "double-jeopardy". We know that Cohen had plead guilty and served time for federal crimes related to this scheme and there may be others not yet named, who are involved -

Cuomo signs law that allows NY to prosecute those pardoned by a President


By Chandelis Duster, CNN
Published 2:17 PM EDT, Wed October 16, 2019


Washington CNN — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation on Wednesday that will allow the state to prosecute people who have received a presidential pardon for the same offense, which could potentially affect associates of President Donald Trump. The bill, which was passed by the state legislature in May, closes New York’s “double jeopardy” legal loophole that protected individuals who are pardoned by a president for federal crimes from being prosecuted at the state level for the same offense.

The change goes into effect immediately and applies to future and past offenses, provided a plea has not been entered and a person has not already been tried. “No one is above the law and New York will not turn a blind eye to criminality, no matter who seeks to protect them,” Cuomo, a Democrat, said in a statement. “The closure of this egregious loophole gives prosecutors the ability to stand up against any abuse of power, and helps ensure that no politically motivated, self-serving action is sanctioned under law.”

The new law potentially short-circuits Trump’s ability to shield his associates from prosecution, including former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who was sentenced to more than seven years in prison on financial crimes stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the 2016 campaign.

The New York Attorney General’s office, which has vowed to investigate Trump and his business dealings, said in a release the new law establishes an additional exception “that would ensure that New York’s criminal laws continue to apply to individuals who receive a presidential pardon and also have a connection to the president either by family or close professional relationship, or through a narrow set of other criteria.”

(snip)

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/16/politics/andrew-cuomo-double-jeopardy-law/index.html

Similarly, there is a whole cast of characters who have yet to be charged by either the feds or state of NY but who have testified for either or both entities. E.g., I had heard something a few days ago, that Jr. supposedly signed off on one of Cohen's monthly "legal retainer" checks.

[bluestarone]

28. Not sure, but did TFG or his lawyer

Give any statement to NY over the length of this investigation? Maybe a PERJURY charge as well? (just guessing here)

[boyedav1969]

29. I could be wrong, but...

...it looks like a class E felony carries a minimum sentence of 1 year in prison. I wonder how many of the counts that would apply too? It sounds like he doesn't intend to plead out any of them, which is where you might normally see the charge reduced.

[Jarqui]

30. These would have statutes that are worthy of review

Trump Org Indictments (I think all were convicted)
https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/20982377/indictment.pdf

Weisselberg Inictment
https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/20982370/indictment-final-unsigned.pdf

Cohen case was federal. But there would be some state equivalent charges
https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/4779697/Michael-Cohen-Charging-Documents.pdf