Meet The Shadowy Accountants Who Do Trump's Taxes And Help Him Seem Richer Than He Is

[douglas9]

On May 12, after a six-week delay caused by the pandemic, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in the epic battle by congressional committees and New York prosecutors to pry loose eight years of President Donald Trump’s tax returns.

Much about the case is without precedent. Oral arguments will be publicly broadcast on live audio. The nine justices and opposing lawyers will debate the issues remotely, from their offices and homes. And the central question is extraordinary: Is the president of the United States immune from congressional — and even criminal — investigation?

Next week’s arguments concern whether Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA, must hand over his tax returns and other records to a House committee and the Manhattan district attorney, which have separately subpoenaed them. (There will also be arguments on congressional subpoenas to two of Trump’s banks.) Trump, who promised while running for president to make his tax returns public, has sued to block the documents’ release. The questions apply beyond this case. Trump has repeatedly resisted congressional scrutiny, most recently by vowing to ignore oversight requirements included in the trillion-dollar pandemic-bailout legislation. “I’ll be the oversight,” he declared.

The president’s accounting firm has found itself at the center of this high-stakes fight. The American arm of a global firm, Mazars has portrayed itself as an innocent bystander in the war between Trump and his pursuers, dragged into the conflict merely for possessing the trove of subpoenaed records. It’s the firm’s first burst into the media glare apart from an unfortunate moment of tabloid coverage in 2016 after one of its New York partners stabbed his wife to death in the shower of their suburban home. (He pleaded guilty to manslaughter.) Mazars has said it will abide by whatever decision the court makes in the Trump matter.


https://www.dcreport.org/2020/05/06/meet-the-shadowy-accountants-who-do-trumps-taxes-and-help-him-seem-richer-than-he-is/

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. What has DC Report done other than lift the story, word for word, from ProPublica? NT

[underpants]

2. I went to the ProPublica link.

Diving into Trump’s personal finances, as Zachary did in the late 1980s, proved bewildering. Warned that his work for Trump was sure to face an audit, Zachary said he took special care to trace every asset, expense and receipt. When he finally finished, he was mystified. Zachary couldn’t find evidence that Trump, in fact, possessed any cash beyond a recent payment in a casino deal.

“I went to Jack Mitnick, and I said, ‘Look, I must be missing something: There’s nothing here!’… I thought for sure I screwed up. I thought for sure I missed something big.”

Zachary recalled Mitnick’s reply. “He just laughed and went: ‘Well, you just figured it out!’”

[douglas9]

3. They credited ProPublica

By Peter Elkind, ProPublica, and Meg Cramer, WNYC, with Doris Burke, ProPublica

This story was originally published by ProPublica.

https://www.dcreport.org/2020/05/06/meet-the-shadowy-accountants-who-do-trumps-taxes-and-help-him-seem-richer-than-he-is/

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. You are correct.

What I'm trying to figure out is, who is DC Report? Is it a part of Pro Publica? Is it a news aggregator?

I didn't mean to sound as if I were attacking you. It's DC Report that makes me wonder who they are.

Thanks.

[mitch96]

5. "Mazars has said it will abide by whatever decision the court makes in the matter. "

Ahhh bullshit. I'll believe it when I see it. tRump will probably claim "executive privilege" and block Mazars from turning over the paperwork. YMMV
m

[mountain grammy]

6. Mob accountants.

[underpants]

7. That was quite a read. Highly recommend it.