Events in Ukraine seem to be burying this story amid seemingly more important matters but a announcement of the simultaneous resignations of two prosecutors investigating potentially criminal offenses tied to The Trump Organization merit s equal concern in the United States. The story is a good reminder of what our justice system is turning into... Something that by the day less reflects any "system" or "justice" but instead reflects a Magic 8 ball with REALLY BAD random outcomes:
- castle doctrine - free the vigilante
- qualified immunity -- free the cop
- conspiracy to sell addictive opioids -- pay fine in exchange for criminal immunity
- exonerating DNA evidence -- you had your shot, die in the chair anyway
On February 23, 2022, the Manhattan District Attorney's office (a county level office) announced the two top prosecutors managing investigations into state criminal tax and fraud charges against Donald Trump both resigned on the same day.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/23/nyregion/trump-ny-fraud-investigation.htmlStories covering those resignations also noted that the grand jury seated to examine evidence in the case hasn't reviewed a single scrap of evidence in over one month. That grand jury's term expires in April making it highly unlikely any charges will arise from this investigation. There is still a separate state tax fraud case being pursued by New York State Attorney General Letitia James.
Details in the stories published so far do not make it clear what led the two prosecutors to resign, though their boss District Attorney Alvin Bragg recently stated he had doubts about the case moving forward.
Were they both quitting because they saw no case but felt someone above was pressuring them to continue?
Were they both quitting because they SAW a case but felt their efforts were being hampered by parties above them?
This inquiry was focused on suggestions that The Trump Organization consistently OVERVALUED properties when using them as collateral on loan documents and consistently UNDERVALUED them for tax purposes -- a two-fer crime of bank fraud and tax evasion if true. There were also examples being investigated where high dollar perks were being provided to senior employees of The Trump Organization in lieu of taxable salary, also a crime.
These resignations are concerning because the facts involved seem abundantly clear. Numerous documents reflect cases where Trump cited valuations of his Trump Tower condominium consistent with a 30,000 square foot property yet the physical property is only 11,000 square feet.
A quick google search for dimensions of the building point out that the outer footprint of the building is 76.12 feet by 144.03 feet or 10,963 square feet. Hmmmm. That's almost exactly 11,000 square feet. So was Trump claiming his luxury penthouse condominium was a THREE STOREY condominium? Why did no one processing his bank paperwork spot such an obvious exaggeration / fabrication?
The tax-free perks were also seemingly easy to prove. Paying private school tuition for an employee's child has nothing to do with operating a real estate development firm and could not be justified under any accounting or tax treatment as benefiting the firm, other than avoiding payroll taxes at the firm's level and getting the employee to accept less official taxable compensation by keeping it off a W-4.
Why would any prosecutor have trouble using those facts to sell criminal charges to a grand jury? Especially when there is a pattern of similar over / under fabrications for other Trump buildings, resorts and golf courses? I'm pretty sure if I filed bank loan papers inflating the value of a collateral asset by 3x while paying real estate taxes against a valuation under 1x on that asset I would be writing this piece in a letter from prison for someone else to post online.
The real concern is why most Americans seem genuinely SURPRISED when anything EXPECTED comes out of our judicial processes. A decade ago, when a sex offender or murderer was arrested then convicted, I didn't think ANYTHING of it. Crime reported, suspect caught, prosecution conducted, court and jury hear the case, justice (usually) served. When a business mogul was caught evading taxes or conspiring to violate environmental laws or filing years of fraudulent financial reports, we'd see a perp walk, the teams would disappear into courts for a couple of years and eventually the mogul would spend at least SOME time in Camp Cupcake and surrender at least a few million dollars of ill gotten booty.
Now?
We see cases tossed out on technicalities around prosecutor misconduct / incompetence. We see cases go to trial and judges tainting juries with their own biases. We see ignorant juries mis-interpreting legal principals or flat out ignoring them in their verdicts. We see prosecutors making public comments about the merits of cases rather than moving forward with them or just dropping them.
And today we see prosecutors publicly quitting cases at arguably THE WORST possible time in the process leaving room for suspicion from all parties about the entire system. What are those participants seeing that is hidden from the rest of us that is so revolting they cannot either see a case to trial or dismiss it without charges rather than fanning concerns from all sides about rigged outcomes?
WTH
