Trump’s contradictions over $48 million loan could be tax evasion: report

• The state-appointed monitor in Trump’s fraud case said his company submitted disclosures that were “erroneous.”
• Hidden in footnotes suggests he may have committed tax evasion, according to The Daily Beast.
• The letter suggests that President Trump may have lied about the existence of the $48 million loan.

The court-appointed special monitor overseeing Donald Trump’s New York corporate fraud case says in a footnote to a letter written by former federal judge Barbara Jones that the former president may have committed large-scale tax evasion. One news report said that this was a bombshell statement. A new report published by The Daily Beast.

The letter, first reported by the Messenger, was sent Friday to update Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron on Jones’ findings and review of the former president’s business dealings through his company, the Trump Organization. It was delivered to me.

In it, Jones wrote that the financial information provided to her by Trump’s team included “incomplete” or “inconsistent” disclosures that included multiple “errors.” But she said Trump and her company have been “cooperative” with her investigation.

But buried in the sixth footnote of the 12-page letter is what the Daily Beast said was a clue that Trump may have evaded taxes on $48 million in income. That huge sum — which Trump has claimed for years was a huge debt — never existed as a debt to his company.

“When we inquired about this loan, we learned that although there is no loan agreement commemorating this loan, it appears to be a $48 million loan between Donald J. Trump personally and the Chicago Unit Acquisition Company. ” Jones wrote.

She added, “However, in recent discussions with the Trump Organization, they have determined that this loan never existed. Therefore, it will be removed from future filings with the Office of Government Ethics (OGE).” and should be removed from the next version of MAML,” Jones wrote, referring to the company’s filed corporate financial statements.

Jones and Trump Organization attorney Alan Garten did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

‘Pretty brazen’ conspiracy

Garten told The Daily Beast that there is “internal financing” in which Trump “lends money to companies that he owns.”

“This is one of the many inaccuracies contained in the warden’s letter, which we will address in court,” Garten told the outlet.

However, as recently as October, President Trump claimed in his financial disclosure that he owed his company, Chicago Unit Acquisition LLC, more than $50 million, according to The Daily Beast. The company lists its debt as more than $50 million.

If true, this discrepancy would indicate that President Trump’s disclosures to the federal government were intentionally submitted with inaccuracies related to tens of millions of dollars worth of debt. “Assuming Judge Jones’ letter is accurate, this appears to amount to tax evasion,” tax attorney Martin Lobel told The Daily Beast.

“This explains why Republicans are so intent on cutting the IRS budget,” he added, “because they don’t want the IRS to audit these kinds of transactions.”

The $48 million at the center of this issue has previously come under scrutiny. In 2016, the then-presidential candidate said: new york times He said he bought outstanding loans from several banks he was in debt with and instead of paying them off, he chose to keep the outstanding debts and pay the interest to himself.

However, in 2019, mother jones He reported that a significant portion of Trump’s debt was forgiven by the hedge fund he borrowed from after he paid about half of it.

So instead of paying up to 39% income tax on the forgiven debt, Trump “fabricated the loan and withheld it,” the newspaper reported. Debt parking is the process of using a corporation to purchase debt and avoid paying income taxes. This maneuver is legal as long as the borrower intends to repay the loan, but it is illegal to do so indefinitely.

Adam Levitin, a Georgetown University law professor who specializes in commercial real estate financing, told Mother Jones at the time that the plot was “pretty brazen,” adding, “If you didn’t actually buy the loans, this is… It’s just a common scam,” he added. . ”

“It’s still unclear why he claimed this bogus loan, but at the very least he misled the government about his finances for years,” said Jordan Libowitz, communications director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. , Jordan Libowitz, communications director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told The Daily Beast. “It appears that Mr. Trump knowingly and knowingly broke the law. The only question is how many laws there are.”