Felix Sater, one of Donald Trump’s shadiest former business partners, is reportedly preparing for prison time — and he says the president will be joining him behind bars.
Sources told The Spectator‘s Paul Wood last year that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s deep dive into Trump’s business practices may be yielding results.
Trump recently made remarks that could point to a money laundering scheme, Wood reported.
“I mean, it’s possible there’s a condo or something, so, you know, I sell a lot of condo units, and somebody from Russia buys a condo, who knows?” the president said.
Sater, who has a long history of legal troubles and is cooperating with law enforcement, was one of the major players responsible for selling Trump’s condos to the Russians.
And according to Wood’s sources, Sater may have already flipped and given prosecutors the evidence they need to make a case against Trump.
For several weeks there have been rumours that Sater is ready to rat again, agreeing to help Mueller. ‘He has told family and friends he knows he and POTUS are going to prison,’ someone talking to Mueller’s investigators informed me.
Sater hinted in an interview earlier this month that he may be cooperating with both Mueller’s investigation and congressional probes of Trump.
“In about the next 30 to 35 days, I will be the most colourful character you have ever talked about,” Sater told New York Magazine. “Unfortunately, I can’t talk about it now, before it happens. And believe me, it ain’t anything as small as whether or not they’re gonna call me to the Senate committee.”
Sater is not the only one rumored confidante to have turned against Trump. An attack on former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort by the National Enquirer — a friendly outlet for the president — suggests that he may have already turned over damaging evidence to authorities.
A federal judge in Jacksonville on Monday sentenced former Democratic Rep. Corrine Brown to five years in federal prison after she was convicted last May on corruption charges for her role in using a scam charity to bilk donors and use the money for personal expenses, the Florida Times-Union reported.
The 71-year-old disgraced congresswoman’s chief of staff, Ronnie Simmons, got 48 months in prison, while the founder of the charity, One Door for Education President Carla Wiley, received a 21-month sentence for her role.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan said Brown abused the public trust to carry out a criminal conspiracy, the newspaper reported.
“This is a sad day for everyone,” said Corrigan after sentencing Brown to prison. “I was impressed with all the outpouring of support for you, and I think it’s a tribute to all the work you’ve done over the years. That’s what makes this all the more tragic.”
“This was a crime born of entitlement and greed, committed to supporting a lifestyle that was beyond their means,” said Corrigan. “Just think of the good that could have been done with that money if it would have been used for its intended purpose.”
Brown was also given three years probation. Brown’s attorney says her client plans to file an appeal.
In 1992, Brown, of Jacksonville, was the first African-American from Florida to be elected to Congress since Reconstruction. She was best known for her slogan “Corrine Delivers,” a nod to the fact that she had knack for securing federal funding for her district.
In the 2016 Democratic primary, she was defeated by former state Sen. Al Lawson. The corruption case haunted her on the campaign trail. Her loss was also attributed to the fact that she joined state Republicans in opposing changes to her 5th Congressional District, which became a national poster child for gerrymandering. For years, the district snaked from Orlando to Jacksonville, picking up pockets of black communities and cities along the way. The seat was politically good for Brown, but made the surrounding congressional districts whiter and more Republican-leaning.
After a lengthy court battle over the newly drawn seats, Brown’s congressional district was redrawn to stretch east-west from Jacksonville to the Tallahassee region. It’s still overwhelmingly Democratic, but Brown departed from near Democratic consensus to oppose the changes because it lowered the number of black voters in the seat.
Reza Zarrab, whose trial for allegedly cheating U.S. sanctions is scheduled to begin in days, was secretly removed from a federal prison and may be working with prosecutors.
A man who may be part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of alleged misdoings by President Donald Trump’s campaign and administration was secretly removed from a federal prison this month.
Now it appears Zarrab, whose trial for allegedly cheating U.S. sanctions by facilitating gold-for-gas deals between Turkey and Iran is scheduled to begin in just days, may be working with federal prosecutors.
Last month, lawyers for his co-defendant, bank manager Mehmet Atilla, remarked sardonically in court filings that Zarrab, the man at the root of the charges facing their client, had all but vanished, and it seemed “likely that Mr. Atilla will be the only defendant appearing at trial.”
The Bureau of Prisons website shows that Zarrab was released from BOP custody on Nov. 8. He had been held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, a federal administrative prison near the Southern District of New York courthouse, before then.
Zarrab has not filed any court documents in the last month. His attorney, Benjamin Brafman, told The Daily Beast he would not be at the final pre-trial conference on Thursday. Flynn’s lawyer did not return a request for comment Wednesday evening.
“All I can tell you is that he is in federal custody,” Nick Biase, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, told The Daily Beast.
The amazing part to me here – Is WHO is supplying this guy investment money? I mean …Usually investors avoid walking lawsuits like thei like the plague.
Somebody also needs to look into the judge who let this dude go.
A new lawsuit alleges that Silicon Valley CEO Gurbaksh Chahal routinely used racial slurs when speaking to subordinates, physically attacked two women and fired a male employee who tried to prevent him from striking a third woman.
The Daily Beast reported Sunday that Chahal is the subject of a lawsuit which alleges that he called workers his “n**gers” and took out his violent rages on employees. Two other pending lawsuits against Chahal accuse him of misleading investors, hiring women based on their looks and making death threats against one employee of his multiple tech companies.
In 2013, Chahal briefly stepped down as CEO of his ad tech company RadiumOne after a vicious attack on his then girlfriend in a San Francisco penthouse.
Police examined surveillance video and determined that during the attack, Chahal punched and kicked the woman he was dating 117 times. He then tried to smother her with a pillow for 20 seconds. Court records show that microphones caught Chahal telling the woman “I’m going to kill you” four times as he beat her.
Nonetheless, he resumed his position at RadiumOne after he was able to get the 47 felony counts against him dropped by a judge who ruled that the video was inadmissible as evidence. Chahal crowed online that he was innocent and accused his former partner of having sex with other men for money.
The RadiumOne board ousted Chahal, but he formed a new company called Gravity4 and has continued to helm new ventures including trying to raise $100 billion to start a new Bitcoin-like crypto-currency, the Daily Beast’s Kelly Weill wrote. Former reality TV star and hotel heiress Paris Hilton has given her imprimatur to the project.
“He’s the biggest liar I’ve ever met in my life,” said one former employee to the Daily Beast.
Gravity4 chief of staff Ali Al-Ansari filed a new suit alleging that Chahal is shockingly sexist, detailing a series of remarks he made against women’s rights and equal pay for men and women.
Other pending lawsuits accuse Chahal of forcing alcohol on women, attacking another girlfriend and then pressuring an employee to help him evade charges, as well as asking male coworkers if women job applicants’ breasts were attractive enough to hire.
Al-Ansari alleges that Chahal described to him in lurid detail how he wanted to further harm the two women he’d attacked, who he saw as trying to “ruin his life.”
The final straw for Al-Ansari came in a Miami apartment when Chahal attempted to attack a woman and Al-Ansari physically prevented the assault.
According to the lawsuit, “Al-Ansari was forced to interpose himself between the woman and Chahal and physically intervened to defend this woman to block Chahal from hitting her. Chahal nonetheless managed to hit this woman. Al-Ansari repeatedly told Chahal ‘don’t touch her!’”
When Al-Ansari took out his phone and began to record the altercation, Chahal reportedly fired him on the spot. The lawsuit further alleges that after the firing, Chahal tried to illegally access Al-Ansari’s personal laptop and destroy incriminating data.
Chahal was freely racist and open about his contempt for black people, the lawsuit says. He used the “N-word” frequently and was resentful and defiant when called out about it.
“I’m not going to stop the n-word,” Chahal said in a discussion transcribed in the suit. “Dude, do you want me to go ahead and say n**ger, n**ger, n**ger? I don’t give a fuck. Martin Luther King might not like that, but he’s a n**ger, too.”
There is a novelty company which sells your picture on the cover of Time Magazine as a gag. Other than the “Time Person of the Year” logo, no attempt is made to actually make it look real,
Seems that the Chumph’s wee weiner ego needed a boost – so he had himself photoshopped onto a Time Cover with a fake byline. And promptly hung copis of the fake magazine covers in a number of his properties to impress everyone.
The funny thing is the cover they stole the background from has an article about Global Warming,
The Chumph’s son-in-law is now under investigation for a Charity which was supposed to be run for sick children – but the money was diverted into the Chumph commercial empire.
The Chumph criminal empire has used charity scams to bilk millions from givers multiple times, where the money give wind up in the corporate coffers.
Kushner has also used his father in laws position to enrich the businesses, and worked extensively with Russian spies and mob interests.
Finally – there looks like there is going to be an accounting for that.
Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is investigating the finances and business dealings of Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, as part of the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.
FBI agents and federal prosecutors have also been examining the financial dealings of other Trump associates, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Carter Page, who was listed as a foreign-policy adviser for the campaign.
The Washington Post previously reported that investigators were scrutinizing meetings that Kushner held with Russians in December — first with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, and then with Sergey Gorkov, the head of a state-owned Russian development bank. At the time of that report, it was not clear that the FBI was investigating Kushner’s business dealings.
The officials who described the financial focus of the investigation spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
At the December meeting with Kislyak, Kushner suggested establishing a secure communications line between Trump officials and the Kremlin at a Russian diplomatic facility, according to U.S. officials who reviewed intelligence reports describing Kislyak’s account.
The White House has said that the subsequent meeting with the banker was a pre-inauguration diplomatic encounter, unrelated to business matters. The Russian bank, Vnesheconombank, which has been the subject of U.S. sanctions following Russia’s annexation of Crimea, has said the session was held for business reasons because of Kushner’s role as head of his family’s real estate company. The meeting occurred as Kushner’s company was seeking financing for its troubled $1.8 billion purchase of an office building on Fifth Avenue in New York, and it could raise questions about whether Kushner’s personal financial interests were colliding with his impending role as a public official.
Mueller’s investigation is in a relatively early phase, and it is unclear whether criminal charges will be brought when it is complete.
“We do not know what this report refers to,” Jamie Gorelick, an attorney for Kushner, said in an email. “It would be standard practice for the Special Counsel to examine financial records to look for anything related to Russia. Mr. Kushner previously volunteered to share with Congress what he knows about Russia-related matters. He will do the same if he is contacted in connection with any other inquiry.”
Kushner has agreed to discuss his Russian contacts with the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is conducting one of several investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Kushner rarely speaks publicly about his role in the White House, but he has become a major figure in the administration with a sprawling list of policy responsibilities that includes Canada and Mexico, China, and peace in the Middle East.
Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller, declined to comment for this article but said that “the Special Counsel’s Office has undertaken stringent controls to prohibit unauthorized disclosures and will deal severely with any member who engages in this conduct.”
Former CBC Cabaret Queen Corrine Brown has been convicted of fraud and larceny in the stealing of hundreds of thousands of dollars from a fake charity she set up supposedly to provide scholarships to underprivileged black kids. She used the money to (what else) throw big parties.
Her next party attire will be the ever so stylish… Orange Jumpsuit.
Former U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown has been found guilty of siphoning hundreds of thousands of dollars from a charity that she and her chief of staff had passed off as a scholarship service for students. The Florida Democrat had faced 22 counts ranging from conspiracy to tax fraud; she was convicted of 18.
Of the more than $800,000 she and Elias “Ronnie” Simmons raised for One Door for Education, member station WJCT reports that just $1,200 actually went where they told donors it would: students’ education. In roughly five years, prosecutors say, the charity distributed just two scholarships.
Prosecutors alleged — and on Thursday, the jury agreed — that Brown and Simmons pocketed the rest of the funds, using them for lavish events such as a golf tournament and luxury boxes for an NFL game and a Beyonce concert.
WJCT has more from the courtroom:
“Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tysen Duva and Eric Olshan painted Brown as an egotistical politician who lived beyond her means. Using bank records, checks, letters, emails and hundreds of other documents, prosecutors made the case Brown directed the deposit of $37,000 of One Door cash into her account. They also claimed she was instrumental in planning nine events that cost the sham charity $330,000.”
Brown had argued that the fraud was entirely the doing of Simmons, who earlier pleaded guilty and testified against her. Brown didn’t speak after the verdict was rendered, but her attorney James Smith told reporters, “I still have a lot of work to do on this case,” referring to the sentencing phase and the motion he plans to file for a new trial.
WJCT’s Ryan Michael Benk reports the sentencing phase could take 90 days or longer for Brown, who left office earlier this year after losing her re-election bid in the district she had represented for nearly a quarter-century.
Trump has been sued 134 times in federal court since he was sworn into office, according to a Globe tally based on federal court databases, nearly three times the number of his three predecessors in their early months combined.
The lawsuits include green card holders trying to get into the United States after his travel ban on seven majority-Muslim countries; cities like San Francisco, Richmond, and Seattle suing over a plan to withhold funds from ”sanctuary’’ cities; and even a woman from Quincy, Mass., who went to court contending that the president’s actions have caused “loss of enjoyment of life.”
At this point in his presidency, Barack Obama faced 26 lawsuits, Bill Clinton was hit with 15 suits, and George W. Bush only faced seven. The dramatic increase in legal action taken against the administration is yet another indicator that the Donald Trump presidency is going to be unlike any other in recent memory (or possibly in the history of the nation).
As The Globe report notes, the massive demonstrations against Trumpist policies are good optics for the so-called “Resistance,” but in terms of getting actual results these suits may actually be a more effective way to combat the administration and the GOP-led Congress.
For example, the selective immigration order, effectively a de facto Muslim ban, was met with massive protests at airports and an influx of volunteer attorneys seeking to help detained travelers. Yet, it was the legal battles fought by states like California, that brought the order and it’s revised sister order to a screeching halt.
Despite controlling both chambers of Congress and a conservative-majority Supreme Court of the United States, the optics-obsessed Trump administration has approached governance with a large focus on executive orders. Constitutional questions about these orders make the most of the cases, though some are unique to Trump.
For example, a wine bar near the Old Post Office hotel managed by the Trump organization claims that the Trump administration “is exercising an unfair competitive advantage because diplomats and lobbyists are booking functions at his hotel to curry favor with him.” Another suit seeks to test in court the assertion that Trump’s ties to businesses violate the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.
As if sexual assault and racism wasn’t enough – now former Fox News execs are going down for fraud. No big surprise from an organization built to promote lying to the American public, as well as to promote racism, sexism, and other conservative “ideals” of the elderly white American male and sexual molesters of the Fox Cable News Management team.
Looks like that toilet is finally getting a long overdue flush.
Former Fox Business News expert and CEO Ryan Tate and his father Richard have been indicted by the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office on eight felony charges and one misdemeanor count for their shady Tate Publishing company. The charges include a misdemeanor embezzlement, three felony attempted extortion by threat and each for felony racketeering.
The company was started more than 20 years ago, according to NewsOK and worked with thousands to publish their books and music. Suddenly, however, Tate Publishing was being sued by printing services for millions. They abruptly closed in Jan. 2017 and lost additional suits brought by Xerox and Lighting Source when Tate failed to comply with subpoenas.
The attorney general’s office received over 800 requests to investigate the publishing company for complaints by people who felt they were scammed by the company.
“A review of bank records shows that monies derived from the sale of publishing or music production services were deposited into business checking accounts and then transferred to Ryan Tate and Christy Tate and/or Richard Tate and Rita Tate’s personal checking accounts,” Agent Elizabeth Fullbright said during a press conference.
“Bank records also show that the $50 processing fee checks from authors, made payable to Tate Publishing, were deposited directly into both Tate Publishing checking accounts and the personal bank account of Richard and Rita Tate. Richard and Rita Tate’s account appears to be used for personal transactions, including dining and entertainment at casinos in Oklahoma,” she revealed.
“The righteous will prevail. I’ve spent a lot of time this weekend in tears with my family,” Tate told workers. “Good people are going to lose their jobs. It’s not fair, it’s not right, but that’s the reality of the situation. Any good organization — Jesus himself is the perfect mix of mercy, grace and justice. And I’ve probably failed you that I’ve been a little too lenient and a little too on the side of mercy and grace and not enough justice.”
He went on to say that he’s looked the other way and let a lot of things go.
“I tried to be nice. I trusted you. Good God!” Tate exclaimed. He then accused them of being on Facebook or watching Netflix while at work. “I trust you. But all I get is bellyaching, moaning, groaning, the grass is greener on the other side. How stupid do you have to be, in this day in age, in this economy to even play with fire like that?”
If convicted the elder Tate will likely die in prison while his son “plays with fire” behind bars for quite a while. Additional charges might be added as the investigation continues as they sift through the hundreds of complaints. The attorney general’s office isn’t clear on how much money was “wrongfully obtained” by the Tates.
The latest Quinnipiac poll, released yesterday, includes all kinds of bad news for Donald Trump. His overall approval rating, for example, has fallen to just 37%, his lowest to date, and a depth of support with no modern precedent for a president just two months into his first term.
But just as interesting as the topline results are some of the specific details. From the pollster’s report:
President Trump is losing support among key elements of his base:
* Men disapprove 43 – 52 percent, compared to a 49 – 45 percent approval March 7;
* Republicans approve 81 – 14 percent, compared to 91 – 5 percent two weeks ago;
* White voters disapprove 44 – 50 percent, compared to a narrow 49 – 45 percent approval March 7.
To be sure, when a president enjoys 81% approval from voters in his own party, that may sound pretty good. It’s not. Note that Trump’s support from the GOP has fallen 10 points since the last Quinnipiac poll.
When a beleaguered president’s overall approval rating is just 37%, he’s even more dependent on die-hard loyalists. When that same president is shedding support from his own base, it’s evidence of a leader with a problem.
Making matters just a little worse, the American electorate doesn’t just disapprove of how Trump is governing, voters also disapprove of the president’s personal qualities. Among the discouraging results for the White House:
* 60 – 35 percent that he is not honest, compared to 55 – 39 not honest March 7;
* 55 – 40 percent that he does not have good leadership skills;
* 57 – 40 percent that he does not care about average Americans;
* 66 – 30 percent that he is not level-headed;
* 61 – 35 percent that he does not share their values.
The president’s overall favorability rating is 36% – which is just a little bit lower than his approval rating.
It’s against this backdrop that Trump is effectively telling Republican members of Congress, “Follow my lead and take health care benefits away from 24 million Americans. It’ll all work out great.” Good luck with that, GOP lawmakers.
Trump is about to take over a government that has suspicions about whether he has been compromised by Russia
The FBI is leading a multi-agency investigation into possible links between Russian officials and President-elect Donald Trump.
The bureau will be joined by the CIA, National Security Agency, and the Treasury Department’s financial crimes unit, according to The New York Times on Thursday. They will reportedly be looking into intercepted communications and financial transactions involving Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman; Carter Page, a former Trump foreign policy adviser; and Roger Stone, a Republican political operative and Trump confidante. One official told the Times that intelligence reports based on some of the wiretapped communications were provided to the White House.
The report did not say whether Trump himself or his presidential campaign have been directly implicated in these investigations or whether they involve the alleged Russian hacking of the Democratic National Committee. All that is known for sure is that they at least partially encompass Trump’s past business dealings with Russia, as well as Manafort’s previous work in both Russia and Ukraine (when the latter state was controlled by a Putin puppet). Sources also told the Times that some of Manafort’s contacts were under surveillance by the National Security Agency because of possible links to Russia’s Federal Security Service, the successor to the infamous KGB.
The legal standards for opening one of these investigations are not very high, and as a result prosecutions are uncommon. Because Trump will soon oversee the agencies conducting these efforts, he will have the power to hinder or even outright squelch them.
“We have absolutely no knowledge of any investigation or even a basis for such an investigation,” said Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks. Manafort was even more defiant, emailing the Times on Thursday evening that claims he had interacted with the Russian government were a “Democrat Party dirty trick and completely false.”
There are numerous connections between Trump and Russia that are beyond dispute. It is a fact that Manafort worked for pro-Putin politicians in Ukraine (his denials notwithstanding), that Trump advisers like Rex Tillerson and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn are also connected to Putin, that Trump took little interest in the Republican Party platform except to make sure that it wasn’t too harsh on Russia, that he openly encouraged Russia to hack Clinton’s emails, and that he had to turn to Russian financial interests tied to the Putin regime to fund his business ventures when major banks stopped lending him money.
That said, if the FBI has been aware of these investigations since before October, it will raise serious questions about why FBI Director James Comey didn’t disclose them to the public when he did choose to disclose a warrant into Hillary Clinton’s emails, which were ultimately about “nothing at all.”
I have said all along that the Chumph’s background is rife with evidence of fraud, bribery, and other misdeeds.They are not that hard to dig out. Anonymous makes a lot of noise, but unfortunately the last few go-rounds haven’t really produced much of significant substance. So…For what it is worth.
The hacker collective Anonymous has a reputation for delivering ominous messages, and in recent days, the group has begun targeting President-elect Donald Trump in a serious way
A series of messages posted on Twitter and include allegations that the group plans to reveal sordid information about Trump.
“This isn’t the 80’s any longer, information doesn’t vanish, it is all out there. You are going to regret the next 4 years,” one message read.
In another, the group alleges Trump has “financial and personal ties with Russian mobsters, child traffickers, and money launderers.”
So far the hacking group has provided no concrete evidence to back up those claims.
Want an appointment with the Chumph? Pay $1 million to his kids, or schedule a major event at his hotel. The Four Seasons is one of the best Hotels in DC with an absolutely “killer” chef. It isn’t for the weak of wallet, or faint of plastic though. Moving from the Four Seasons to the Trump Hotel is like moving from the Ritz to a Motel 6.
Conflict of interest, corruption, and profiteering is supposedly against the law.
The Embassy of Kuwait allegedly cancelled a contract with a Washington, D.C. hotel days after the presidential election, citing political pressure to hold its National Day celebration at the Trump International Hotel instead.
A source tells ThinkProgress that the Kuwaiti embassy, which has regularly held the event at the Four Seasons in Georgetown, abruptly canceled its reservation after members of the Trump Organization pressured the ambassador to hold the event at the hotel owned by the president-elect. The source, who has direct knowledge of the arrangements between the hotels and the embassy, spoke to ThinkProgress on the condition of anonymity because the individual was not authorized to speak publicly. ThinkProgress was also able to review documentary evidence confirming the source’s account.
ThinkProgress reported late Monday that employees of the president-elect’s private business interests were ultimately successful in their campaign to pressure Kuwait into moving its National Day celebration to the Trump International Hotel from the Four Seasons, where the event has been held annually for years. According to an anonymous source with knowledge of the arrangements and documentary evidence reviewed by the news site, the decision to move the event to Trump’s hotel was a result of “political pressure” by the Trump Organization:
In the early fall, the Kuwaiti Embassy signed a contract with the Four Seasons. But after the election, members of the Trump Organization contacted the Ambassador of Kuwait, Salem Al-Sabah, and encouraged him to move his event to Trump’s D.C. hotel, the source said.
Kuwait has now signed a contract with the Trump International Hotel, the source said, adding that a representative with the embassy described the decision as political. Invitations to the event are typically sent out in January.
This comes after the Trump International Hotel hosted some 100 foreign diplomats for a reception in mid-November, according to The Washington Post. The Embassy of Bahrain also hosted a reception at Trump’s hotel on Dec. 7.
Aside from the obvious conflict of interest concerns these arrangements elicit, it may be a violation of the U.S. Constitution.
Trump’s hotel inside D.C.’s historic Post Office Pavilion is actually owned by the federal government. A group of Democratic House lawmakers recently warned that Trump would breach his 60-year hotel lease with the federal government “the moment he takes office” unless he fully divests his interests in it.
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