Jump to content

Donald Trump 2020

Francisco 2.0

By Francisco 2.0
in Cloak Room

 Share

Recommended Posts

SizzleChest

SizzleChest 8275

Posted
Posted
13 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

It's a great story at Forbes, but coming on Election Day, not sure how many will ever notice:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2020/11/03/the-ultimate-donald-trump-mystery-that-couldnt-be-solved-before-election-day/?sh=3b91e5c154ae

 

 

 

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Fifteen years ago, a blue-glass needle began climbing 92 stories into the sky, offering condos with hardwood finishes and views that extend forever. The building officially opened in 2009, at the low point of the Great Recession. Trump defaulted on a $640 million loan, according to his lender. Rather than back down, he sued his creditors, seeking $3 billion in damages. He claimed his lender Deutsche Bank helped “set fire” to the economy, which he called the equivalent of “having torched the building.”

Deutsche Bank countersued, demanding $40 million that it said Trump had personally guaranteed against the project. Four years later, in a bizarre turn of events, Trump secured $99 million of new debt from an unlikely source—Deutsche Bank. According to the New York Times, the fresh financing came from a different arm of the bank, but it helped pay back the original Deutsche Bank debt.

Fortress Investment Group also had a loan against the project, a $130 million note that was junior to the Deutsche Bank financing—and therefore more vulnerable. Court filings suggest that interest and fees accrued on the loan, bringing the amount outstanding to roughly $150 million by March 2012. It was then that Fortress, facing a dicey situation with a troubled property, allowed Trump to buy back the debt for just $48 million—apparently reducing the tycoon’s liabilities by more than $100 million.

The big mystery at the Trump tower in Chicago centers around the current loans outstanding against the building. In 2015, Trump filed his first financial disclosure report as candidate for president of the United States. In the liabilities section, he listed two loans against the Chicago tower. One of them was a $45 million debt to Deutsche Bank. The value of the other was harder to discern—the document lists it as “over $50 million,” without getting more specific.

Here’s where things get really complicated. The creditor on the second loan was a company called Chicago Unit Acquisition LLC. Elsewhere in the disclosure report, Trump noted that he owned Chicago Unit Acquisition LLC. So in other words, one of his companies was apparently lending money to another one of his companies. Since the value of the debt was listed at over $50 million, it would make sense if Chicago Unit Acquisition LLC, the creditor on the liability, was in turn worth more than $50 million. But instead, Trump listed the value of the asset at just $1,001 to $15,000. Every year since, the president has recorded the value on his financial disclosures as nothing at all. “There should be an offsetting entry somewhere,” said Harvard real estate professor Richard Peiser. “I can’t explain that.”

Trump offered a partial explanation in a 2016 interview with the New York Times. “Mr. Trump said he bought this particular loan back from a group of banks several years ago,” the newspaper wrote. “Instead of retiring it, he decided to keep it outstanding, and he pays interest on it to himself.”

But financial disclosure reports show no income for Chicago Unit Acquisition LLC, suggesting Trump does not actually pay interest on the loan to himself. And in the same interview with the New York Times, Trump offered a perplexing explanation of why he lists no value for the LLC. “We don’t assess any value to it because we don’t care,” he said. “I have the mortgage. That is all there is. Very simple. I am the bank.”

If Trump were like other banks, however, he would theoretically list the loan as an asset. There are other inconsistencies. Documents filed in the United Kingdom last year show that Trump also loaned about $200 million to two of his overseas golf resorts, but those debts—unlike the Chicago loan—have never showed up on Trump’s financial disclosure reports. Determined to unravel the riddle, Forbes spent months digging into all of this in 2018, reaching out to more than 200 people and interviewing over 50. Ultimately, none of them could provide a definitive answer.

Lots of the sources offered up theories, though. One suggestion was that someone could have simply made a mistake on the documents. That doesn’t seem all that likely, though, given that the filings include the same inconsistencies year after year. A more intriguing hypothesis: Chicago Unit Acquisition LLC could owe money to a secret third party, which might cancel out the value of the debt it holds from Trump, making the net value zero. New York accountant Mark Feldstein noted one possible advantage of structuring a loan this way: “It would be a way to disguise who he is borrowing from.”

All of this provides fertile ground for conspiracy theorists. Setting aside the possibility of money from nefarious sources, even a traditional lender could cause complications for the president. A review of past financiers at the building is enough to send shivers down the spines of both Democrats and Republicans. Entities tied to liberal tycoon George Soros, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and pro-gun businessman Stephen Feinberg all helped finance the tower in Chicago at one point or another.

Russ Choma of Mother Jones published two major stories about Chicago Unit Acquisition LLC. The first, released in 2017, suggested the loan could signal a secret lender for Trump. The second theorized that perhaps Trump could have used Chicago Unit Acquisition as part of a tax-fraud scheme. The Internal Revenue Service generally requires borrowers to treat canceled debt as income, forcing them to pay taxes on the amount of money forgiven. Choma suggested Trump could have acted like the debt was still held by Chicago Unit Acquisition LLC and therefore avoided tax payments.

The New York State attorney general seemed to be pursuing that idea as part of its investigation into the Trump Organization’s finances. The office tried to figure out whether the Trump Organization had recognized the debt forgiven by Fortress as taxable income, addressing the president’s business about all of this in April. According to prosecutors, the Trump Organization claimed its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, would answer questions about it during testimony. But when Weisselberg spoke to investigators, he wouldn’t confirm much at all, the attorney general’s office later said in a court filing.

Last week, the New York Times, which has access to Trump’s tax-return data, said that the president did in fact document $287 million of income from canceled debts in Chicago. Trump ended up paying taxes on very little of it though, according to the newspaper, because he used losses from other parts of his business to wipe out the income. Nonetheless, the revelation that he declared income from forgiven debt in Chicago casts doubt over the idea that Chicago Unit Acquisition is a vehicle to hide liabilities from tax authorities.

What remains is a swirl of unanswered questions. Did Trump account for all the forgiven debt properly? Is Chicago Unit Acquisition LLC in fact just a way of hiding a secretive lender? What else might explain the riddle? And why are Trump and his representatives acting so strangely about all of this?

It seems clear the president is hiding something. On annual net worth statements that the Trump Organization puts together for the president, the Chicago property has not appeared since 2009, according to the New York attorney general. Patrick Birney, who works in the finance department at the Trump Organization, has suggested that the debt against the Chicago building is only $45 million, completely ignoring the Chicago Unit Acquisition LLC loan.

And in 2017, Forbes asked a Trump Organization executive about the mysterious lender. The executive initially deflected questions until finally claiming—in perfectly clear English—that his phone connection was breaking up.

 

tenor.gif?itemid=4984821

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Replies 43.7k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Mrs Whiggins

    1391

  • Biff Tannen

    1374

  • 4th&Five

    1222

  • WhatTheBuck

    910

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Popular Posts

Thatguy
Thatguy

Let me be candid and honest here my man. I cannot be sympathetic to your comments because this is how adult life has always been. From the moment I stepped out of my home and headed off to college I h

Francisco 2.0
Francisco 2.0
henrygandorf
henrygandorf

it won't matter if his taxes ever come out.  it won't matter if his taxes don't ever come out.  you wanna know why?  because we already know what's in them. since early 2017 when people starting

Posted Images

Dbeasy

Dbeasy 14952

Posted
Posted
You guys are all talking like DJT is going to lose.  Hate to say it fellow Longhorns et. al. but whether you like it or not DJT will more than likely be re-elected.  Now the Senate may be another story but I think the GOP holds it or it's at 50 seats with Pence breaking ties and there is a slim possibility of the GOP getting enough seats to retake the House.  But then again I also bet on Texas football so there's that.

I see the Russian voting machine hacker has checked into surly for a timely commentary.
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Longhorn_Fan68

Longhorn_Fan68 33815

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, Rapid Horn said:

You guys are all talking like DJT is going to lose.  Hate to say it fellow Longhorns et. al. but whether you like it or not DJT will more than likely be re-elected.  Now the Senate may be another story but I think the GOP holds it or it's at 50 seats with Pence breaking ties and there is a slim possibility of the GOP getting enough seats to retake the House.  But then again I also bet on Texas football so there's that.

oh shit, I should definitely listen to a poster who has fewer than 10 posts here. Yup, can't be any downside to that.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

Posted
Posted

The British?  The Mexicans?  The Germans?  The Japanese?  None of them could take over our White House.  

Then the Swedish came with their deceptively crap cabinets, and the seat of our Republic did fall.  

Cry Ikea..and let slip the dogs of hardwar!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Longhorn_Fan68

Longhorn_Fan68 33815

Posted
Posted (edited)
13 minutes ago, Lobo said:

The British?  The Mexicans?  The Germans?  The Japanese?  None of them could take over our White House.  

Then the Swedish came with their deceptively crap cabinets, and the seat of our Republic did fall.  

Cry Ikea..and let slip the dogs of hardwar!

nm

Edited by Longhorn_Fan68
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mo Horn

Mo Horn 8795

Posted
Posted
27 minutes ago, Rapid Horn said:

You guys are all talking like DJT is going to lose.  Hate to say it fellow Longhorns et. al. but whether you like it or not DJT will more than likely be re-elected.  Now the Senate may be another story but I think the GOP holds it or it's at 50 seats with Pence breaking ties and there is a slim possibility of the GOP getting enough seats to retake the House.  But then again I also bet on Texas football so there's that.

 You know how I know you're a troll? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Rapid Horn

Rapid Horn 2

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

oh shit, I should definitely listen to a poster who has fewer than 10 posts here. Yup, can't be any downside to that.

So more posts = more election knowledge.....mmmmkay  I don't listen to Nate Silver who is now crawfishing something terrible now so that gives me some cred.

Keep watching the returns and I will be proven correct.

 

However I can see that since I haven't been posting I am an unknown entity so I guess I get what your saying

 

Edited by Rapid Horn
  • Fuck You 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
pantone159

pantone159 712

Posted
Posted
25 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

I can't even tell what she looks like, but I can confidently say that I'd buy her all the drinks she wants and then make sexy time with her, because I like the cut of her jib.

I had to download this photo, it should be a classic, and the single image that I already had in my download folder was this. Possibly I have a thing for the single finger salute...

 

2BC91299-4F82-4CF1-BD70-6E7111221069.thumb.jpeg.ac9ea5ab0f0cee9dbcf7d234279e6b32.jpeg

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
WhatTheBuck

WhatTheBuck 28700

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, pantone159 said:

I had to download this photo, it should be a classic, and the single image that I already had in my download folder was this. Possibly I have a thing for the single finger salute...

 

2BC91299-4F82-4CF1-BD70-6E7111221069.thumb.jpeg.ac9ea5ab0f0cee9dbcf7d234279e6b32.jpeg

You should always have room in your download folder for this one:

ED6UR1TWkAAjvAb?format=jpg&name=large

  • Fuck You 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
RomaVicta

RomaVicta 29744

Posted
Posted
21 hours ago, Hiphopopotamos said:

He'll be at the White House selling pardons - he'll grift until he's dragged out of that fucking office.

Yep. Creditors and prosecutors will be lining the block outside the White House with, respectively, their hands out and handcuffs. He'll wait to the last minute then helicopter out to a secret place then travel on to Mar a Lago to bunker up as long as he can. He'll flee when extradition to NY becomes unavoidable. He'll get asylum in Saudi if they want to have a pet President of the United States. That will save him prosecution but not the debtors who will tear his name off of every property and auction his every possession left behind.

What am I bid on this fine collection from the Trump collection?

Item one is a portrait purchased with funds  defrauded from his phony charity organization. 

Item two is a phony historical marker the Donald had installed on one of the golf courses formerly bearing his name.

Item three is a phony Time Magazine cover Trump had beautifully framed.

Item four, item four! Item four is a fabulous work of art created by Trump himself while president from a found object where the artist adds a phony warning area to the official warning area as a subtle commentary on how he knows more than the scientists. Magnifique!

We'll start the bidding at three fiddy.

spacer.png

riverblood.jpg

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

  • Hook 'Em 2
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
RomaVicta

RomaVicta 29744

Posted
Posted
21 hours ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

According to prosecutors, the Trump Organization claimed its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, would answer questions about it during testimony. But when Weisselberg spoke to investigators, he wouldn’t confirm much at all, the attorney general’s office later said in a court filing.

This is really interesting. I have to read slowly because I don't deal with high finance or fraud. I'm still reading the post, but this jumped out at me.

I recall Weisselberg deciding to cooperate and open the books. Many thought this would be devastating, and that seemed to make sense. Here, I learn that he was not so cooperative. This smells of further manipulation of the DOJ by the White House to me.

Is Weisselberg waiting for the outcome of the election to see if he can avoid cooperating? Trump has so many reasons to (and the void of integrity, decency, and conscience) to cheat his nuts off to hold onto office.

Now back to the post. Faxinating.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Bevo14

Bevo14 8249

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 minutes ago, RomaVicta said:

I hope nobody sets fire to it in such a way nobody gets hurt but we have the visual of Trump's White House seemingly surrounded by a flaming wall. That would be so wrong.

I dunno. Fake concrete walls are already pretty emblematic of Trump's White House.

Edited by Bevo14
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Bevo14

Bevo14 8249

Posted
Posted
27 minutes ago, Blotto said:

That "Fuck Donald Trump" ditty would make a fantastic voicemail message on my cell. unfortunately I use my personal cell for work as well, which would might not go over well with some of my customers. 

Get new customers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
NWBuck

NWBuck 8543

Posted
Posted (edited)
18 minutes ago, Mdhorn said:

I'm wondering who's money he's using to sue all these swing states with?

(j/k.... he'll totally figure out a way for the DoJ to pass the bills onto the taxpayers, like everything else)

Edited by NWBuck
  • Hook 'Em 2
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing


Football ... Basketball ... Baseball ... Other Sports ... Futbol ... 🤫995🤫 ... Gambling ... Movies & TV ... Music ... Hobbies ... Lulz ... Food & Travel ... Daily Texan ... Business and Markets ... Cloak Room ... Help ... For Sale ... Board Discussion ... Subscribe!... Donate!... Advertise... COOKIE MONSTER!

×
×
  • Create New...