Accounting Firm Cuts Ties With Trump and Retracts Financial Statements

[ificandream]

Source: NY Times/

By Ben Protess and William K. Rashbaum
Feb. 14, 2022, 4:01 p.m. ET
Donald J. Trump’s longtime accounting firm abruptly cut ties with his family business last week amid ongoing criminal and civil investigations into whether Mr. Trump illegally inflated the value of his assets, court documents filed on Monday show.

In a letter to the Trump Organization on Feb. 9, the accounting firm notified the company of its decision and disclosed that it could no longer stand behind annual financial statements it prepared for Mr. Trump. The firm, Mazars USA, compiled the financial statements based on information the former president and his company provided.

The letter instructed the Trump Organization to essentially retract the documents, known as statements of financial condition, from 2011 to 2020. In the letter, Mazars noted that the firm had not “as a whole” found material discrepancies between the information the Trump Organization provided and the actual value of Mr. Trump’s assets. But given what it called “the totality of circumstances,” the letter directed the Trump Organization to notify anyone who received the statements that they should no longer rely on them.

The statements, which Mr. Trump used to secure loans, are at the center of the two law enforcement investigations into the former president and his company. The Manhattan district attorney’s office and the office of the New York attorney general, Letitia James, have been investigating whether Mr. Trump used the statements to defraud his lenders into providing him the best possible loan terms.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/14/nyregion/mazars-trump-organization-financial-statements.html

[pnwmom]

1. Wow. Thanks for sharing this! n/t

[olegramps]

100. I wonder what is the liability of the accounting firm?

Do they just rely on the customer's input? Will the banks come after him for submitting fraudulent applications for a loan? Maybe someone can shed light on what this all means.

[progressoid]

2. LOL

[catbyte]

3. Ouch, lol!

I wonder what prompted that? 🤔

[empedocles]

15. Hmmm?

[Cha]

81. Very Curious!

[jpak]

4. Pants on fire

[bahboo]

5. eventually, people will bail on the fuck and cover their own asses...

may this signal a tsunami of shit headed his way...

[PatSeg]

68. Yes, in the end

no sane person is going to go down with the ship for Trump. What do they benefit from being loyal to such a loser?

[keithbvadu2]

82. For Dotard, loyalty is a one way street... to himself.

[SergeStorms]

86. Putin and other Russian oligarchs....

aren't going to recall the "loans" they gave him. They'll want something in return though, and I'll bet TFG has a few more boxes of "documents" stashed around in different places.

I think that was always his plan anyway. Why pay back loans with currency when you have state secrets to trade?

[homegirl]

104. You

called it!

[Kali]

6. oh my

[COL Mustard]

7. Cue "Jaws" Theme.....

Ba-dum
Ba-dum
Badumbadumbadumbadumbada......

It's not safe to go back to Trump Tower!

[Atticus]

8. Will this not permit his lenders to accelerate the due dates and demand payment in full NOW? nt

[empedocles]

14. Beat the rush time for lenders?

[exboyfil]

24. You would think

Also the accounting firms are probably getting nervous about the civil liabilities for failing to do their due diligence (if not criminal which I got to think there is some of that going on as well).

With the public light on it will be difficult for the bankers to do the usual back scratching for their preferred customers (you know their golf buddies and those who help them on conflict of interest type side projects).

[CaptainTruth]

46. Seems like they could demand new financial statements because they've been told they can't rely on..

...the ones they have.

Unleash the dogs of accounting!

[smb]

61. If So, He's Big Red Capital Superman "S" Screwed nt

[paleotn]

80. Could depending on the terms.

[h2ebits]

9. Great News!

We are seeing his accounting firm distancing itself from Trump. Wonder who will pick up his account. . . .

[exboyfil]

26. Big question will they even know

Like the CFO of his charity that didn't even realize he was the CFO. Put a name any name on that form.

[h2ebits]

51. LOL

Whatever firm takes over Trump's financial records needs to be examined for credibility and honesty. I'm sure he'll find at least one skanky one that needs eagle eye monitoring. I doubt any reputable firm will take him on but who knows in today's environment.

[Lonestarblue]

72. Yes, remember that disgusting looking person who claimed to be Trump's doctor?

That’s how I imagine his new accountant looking—like he hasn’t had a real client in decades.

[canetoad]

91. And remember

How, compared with Ronnie Jackson, he was the GOOD one.

[keithbvadu2]

83. Bernie Madoff's accounting firm might have some spare time for a new client.

Bernie Madoff's accounting firm might have some spare time for a new client.

[Marthe48]

10. Like seeing this!

Several DU headlines are making me smile! Thanks, OPs!

[lpbk2713]

11. More trouble than they were worth.

The Trump family kept them busy but not in a good way.

[Leghorn21]

12. HOT DAMN!!!!!!!

[SWBTATTReg]

13. Someone should pay to print this in the top 10 newspapers in the US, so everybody will be aware

of this fraud and grift.

[exboyfil]

27. Streaming documentaries and movies is the way to go

[Chainfire]

16. Rats and sinking ships?

[ificandream]

17. That's kind of what it looks like, huh?

[ashredux]

18. You beat me to it....they are running 🏃‍♂️

[Chainfire]

21. Of course, Trump's long time accounting firm is just now discovering that the may not have been

completely open and honest with them. Admitting that they put out bogus numbers to his lenders. Of course, I am sure it was just a clerical error. Some mail room clerk is going to lose their job over the issue. Reckon what got their attention?

[Fullduplexxx]

28. That was my thought as well ...cut ties now? Surely they knew

[Chainfire]

59. That group of accountants didn't just fall off the turnip truck,

They are not Billy Bobs Used Cars and Accounting. Of course they knew that Trump fed them bogus numbers and they fed the same bogus numbers to banks. They did it because is was a valuable account and it made them money. They are getting religion now because they know that some DA is looking up their home addresses, taking a peek at their bank accounts, and seeing who got their kid into Harvard. These fancy bookkeepers will sing like the proverbial canary once cornered and looking at jail time.

It couldn't happen to a more deserving Trump.

[smb]

71. "Hey, Guys, This Is Like Something That Happened At Arthur Andersen....

...you don't recognize the name Arthur Andersen? Maybe that's because they're not in business any more!!

[Chainfire]

87. I remember.

Sometimes businesses get too big for their britches. The confuse how important they are with how important that they think that they are. It is a case of, "We are too savvy, we are too squared away, we are too important to follow the rules. With a little luck that is when Karma comes around to slap you in the face.

Of course, when you are big shots, you don't have to go to jail for your crimes, your company pays a fine for you, and you honor is left intact. These are the people we should be jailing, the enablers, he financiers of the criminals, the crooked lawyers and politicians. But instead we send a kid in prison for selling $25.00 worth of crack. Small crime is punished, large crime is rewarded.

[PurgedVoter]

93. No, they rebranded themselves and are still a big thing in Texas

Accenture; Andersen Tax LLC is now a company out of Ireland and a Global 500 company. Crime still pays well.

Full disclosure, years ago I was taught how to spin a pencil in my hand by an Accountant for that firm. That was before Enron was exposed as the slime it was.

[Farmer-Rick]

62. Yeah?

They are withdrawing 2 to 11 year old statements of financial condition of the Trump organization. WTF????

A lot of crimes were comitted in all those years that the accounting firm is partially responsible for. Someone is going to be bringing law suits real soon.

[Pluvious]

95. This will likely trigger default clauses on a whole mess of already underwater loans.

#WompWomp

[ancianita]

19. As Mazars goes, so come his woes.

[WinstonSmith4740]

20. Watching it right now.

Guiliani is going to cooperate and now this? The rats are leaving the ship. Bye, Don.

[dchill]

22. Like Steve Miller said: "Go on, take the money and run!"

[empedocles]

23. Due to 'the totality of circumstances' - interesting phrase

Go ahead, try and get such information from Mazurs.

[onecaliberal]

25. And they just now realized? I've got a bridge for sale.

[drray23]

65. yes indeed. Its more like they are starting to feel the heat

and are bailing out so they do not get caught in the upcoming shitstorm.

[Skittles]

29. NOW we're talking

[gab13by13]

30. Bwahahaha,

Rudy or the Kraken will do his taxes.

[bucolic_frolic]

31. Worldcom and Enron level development

[LoisB]

55. Yep.

nt

[madaboutharry]

32. Accounting Firms can face legal exposure.

It must be very, very bad!

[BootinUp]

33. Like they had no idea b4. Rrright. Nt

[gab13by13]

34. Going to need another loan Uncle Pootie,

Maybe he can pay you back again if he becomes president, but if he loses can we see the pee tapes?

[hippywife]

35. My favorite part was this:

"...the letter directed the Trump Organization to notify anyone who received the statements that they should no longer rely on them."

First, that horse has already left the barn, and second, I'm sure they'll get right on contacting all the folks they copied them to for credit."

[gab13by13]

37. There may be more involved,

there may be investors who were duped by bogus numbers who just may want to sue, if he has any money left?

[ificandream]

40. The suit-ers are lining up like ducks in a pond ...

[hippywife]

41. Without a doubt,

I'm saying that many of them have probably already extended credit to them, and if they have aren't likely to see much, if any, repayment.

[twodogsbarking]

74. Good point. Dumping the client is bad enough

but retraction is another level. "Subsequent events" not known at audit but discovered later is one reason for such action.

[gab13by13]

36. Ivanka is in deep trouble,

Trump got her to sign her name to protect himself.

[ificandream]

39. So the Orange Walrus screwed his dear daughter? LOL ...

[Pluvious]

96. I think he'll called that fantasy "dating"

Gag

[CaptainTruth]

38. IMHO this is big!

It's getting to the point where no one with any credibility will be left standing with TFG & supporting him as the charges against him mount.

And has anyone heard anything about former Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg recently? I know about his charges last year, just wondering if, as Trump's house of fraudulent cards continues to crumble, he might be cooperating with investigators?

[nitpicker]

42. Link to repost of Business Insider

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-s-longtime-accounting-firm-cut-him-off-and-said-10-years-of-his-financial-statements-should-no-longer-be-relied-upon-amid-fraud-allegations/ar-AATQEpS?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531

[fierywoman]

43. Mmmm ... I'm thinking fresh gourmet heirloom popcorn with freshly melted butter on top ...

[gab13by13]

44. Calling Merrick Garland,

this is what is needed, prosecutions. Make it toxic for anyone to be associated with MF45 and his band of traitors.

Nail Weiselberg too, put his scrotum in a vise until he flips.

[Ponietz]

90. Paging Janet Yellen at Treasury

Please refer the tax evasion Indictment already.

[LiberalFighter]

45. What shady company will take over?

[smb]

70. Four Seasons Total Accounting, Maybe? nt

[samsingh]

47. fake president, fake american, fake company, fake financial statements

everything about this traitor is a fraud

[Blue Owl]

94. Indeed

[Scrivener7]

48. But what does this do? If the accounting firm is taking the fall, can't tfg say it was

the Mazars's fault?

How does this work? Hoping someone who knows will tell me this is the nail in his coffin.

[Gore1FL]

53. My understanding of it, (and I may have misread or misunderstood)

Last edited Mon Feb 14, 2022, 06:57 PM - Edit history (1)

The numbers they had received from Trump matched the reports they produced. With new information coming out, they don't believe the information provided by Trump is valid. Hence, they now won't stand by their reports, because they believe it was based on wrong or incomplete data.

[Scrivener7]

56. Oh, YES!!!!!

[gab13by13]

63. I still say,

Trump used Ivanka a lot, she better lawyer up. Trump had Ivanka sign her name to the Trump tower in Azerbaijan that never opened, just laundered money.

[LoisB]

69. They must never have done an audit.

nt

[SergeStorms]

97. The IRS has been auditing him for 8 yrs. now!

He still can't provide the voters with his tax returns from 2014!

I still don't understand why Steve Mnuchin wouldn't furnish Congress with his tax returns.

[LoisB]

98. Mnuchin probably has as much to hide as Donnie.

[SergeStorms]

99. You're probably correct.

Because as we all know, Donnie chose nothing but the best people to work in his administration. To him that meant the best at being criminally slick, and not getting caught. That might be about ready to change, and if I were anyone who worked in the Trump administration I'd be a little worried right now.

[grantcart]

102. As a private company there was no legal requirement for an audit

Just an accounting fitm

[SleeplessinSoCal]

49. Frustratingly, His assets haven't been monetary in nature for a long time

Trading in favors, connections, power brokering, etc, while clogging up our courts and keeping the spotlight on himself is like a blueprint for future would-be dictators and petty criminals. Along with not so petty criminals.

New mantra: "Bring Back the Cherry Trees!" (for symbolism of our first truth-telling POTUS (1789 to 1797) and the garden that was devastated by FLOTUS (2017-2021) (Were they crabapple trees?)

* https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/08/25/fact-check-white-house-rose-garden-redo-didnt-pull-cherry-trees-historic-roses/5631760002/

P.S. I'm frustrated by tree choppers outside our home all morning. They're still hacking away.

[C Moon]

50. "... notify anyone who received the statements that they should no longer rely on them."

I'm sure tfg will get right on that.

[LoisB]

52. Shades of Arthur Andersen and Enron.

nt

[Mr. Ected]

54. My bank requires appraisals when valuing properties and so does yours

But Donald Trump simply needs to impute a value on his applications and that's sufficient for the bank?

BULLSHIT.

[gab13by13]

64. Yeah, they need to give someone immunity,

to get people to flip.

[GB_RN]

57. That's Gotta Hurt!

Good luck (not really) finding a credible replacement! 😂

[BigmanPigman]

58. This thread is as good as the news it prompted.

DU is the best way to get my morning news and feedback.

Many hearts to DU from me...❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[smb]

60. George Conway Translates

Link to tweet

[gab13by13]

67. Hey Conway, wrong law suit,

this one is the AG's.

[Mr.Bill]

66. This sounds like the first step

in a deal with the prosecution.

[IcyPeas]

73. drip drip drip

[L. Coyote]

76. More like a diluge recently.

Link to tweet

[NBachers]

75. Well this is a "Holy Shit" moment. Call Four Seasons Pizza and Backroom Accounting Parlor.

[brooklynite]

77. Translation by my wife, the Tax Attorney...

“We can’t prove it, but we think you lied to us.”

[Jarqui]

85. And in doing so, Trump lied to the folks he provided the statements to ..

which is, for example, in the case of using them to substantiate a loan: bank fraud.
Or for insurance companies, fraud.
Or like Al Capone, tax evasion.

Paul Manafort can tell Trump all about the consequences of that. They nailed him on it multiple times.
He'd still be in jail for years if Trump hadn't pardoned him.

It's a tough thing to get around because the loan is so documented to cover the lenders butt.
If the claims in the loan documents are untrue, they have proof false information was provided in those documents.
That's fraud. As Manafort found out, it is very difficult to explain away even if the jury has Trumpers on it (which the Manafort jury did).

You can't eat the loan application and shit it down the toilet to get away with it either.
Everybody's already got copies of that shit.

When stuff like this happens, it's like a mortally wounded beast in the wild.
The money vultures start to circle. They don't want to get caught short.
There's usually demand clauses in loans that get triggered. "you have to pay us $X million by end of business tomorrow ..."
So the Trump businesses get cash throttled and no one will loan them the dough.
So he has to sell off assets quickly at a discounted price as the vultures pick over the dying carcass of the business.

Meanwhile, the DoJ is moving in to nail him criminally ...

Trump probably has a short list of countries he can't be extradited from. And some of his dough is probably in the Cook Islands where it can't be seized.

This could get ugly for Trump quickly. More folks will jump ship. Maybe Trump too.

Hopefully, we can then focus on his enablers who are the real problem.

[uncle ray]

92. complete layperson here, i think they can prove it, but it would be bad form to do so.

however, turning that info over to investigators who have no such reservations...

[L. Coyote]

78. Twitter trolls are blaming the Gazpacho Police for framing #FailedCoupGuy.

Happy Valentines Day

[sarcasmo]

79. 2011-2020 documents sounds like Mazars USA made a deal with Tish James.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

84. What about his election financial disclosures. Wonder

If a firm compiled those..or just his own crooked accountants.

[BlueIdaho]

88. Someone's trying to get out of the impact zone

The shit may be about to hit the fan.

[TeamProg]

89. Thanks for posting.

I like it.

[Emile]

101. I doubt H&R Block would even want to prepare his taxes. He

better use Turbo Tax.

[DBoon]

103. some accounting firm partners suddenly are now worried about going to jail

and with a traditional partnership, you can literally lose the shirt off your back - personal assets are fair game

I suspect these folks are an LLP which may limit their personal liability

In short, you have some very ambitious CPAs who are faced with losing everything they have