On 2023-06-28 20:55, Tommy wrote:
On Monday, June 26, 2023 at 12:37:26 PM UTC-7, Leroy N. Soetoro wrote:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-criminal-investigation-into-golf-
course-valuation-closed-westchester-d-a-says/?intcid=CNI-00-10aaa3a
A two-year criminal investigation into the Trump Organization's valuations >> of a golf club in Westchester County, New York, has been closed, the
county's district attorney, Miriam Rocah, confirmed Thursday.
"Part of why I'm saying anything at all is that I think it's really
important, more important than ever in our country, to make sure that
people understand that we have independent prosecutors, we have a justice
system that operates independent of politics," Rocah, a Democrat, told CBS >> News after a press conference announcing arrests and other updates in
several cold case homicides. "I can stand here and proudly say that I'm
one of those prosecutors, and I look at every subject of any
investigation, every organization that's a subject of an investigation,
the same way."
Insider first reported Wednesday that the investigation was closed this
month.
On Friday, Trump posted on Truth Social, "THIS WAS THE HONORABLE THING TO
DO IN THAT I DID NOTHING WRONG, BUT WHERE AND WHEN DO I GET MY REPUTATION
BACK?"
Prosecutors in the suburban county, north of New York City, had subpoenaed >> records from the town of Ossining and Trump National Golf Club
Westchester, examining efforts by the club to reduce its local tax burden. >>
The company and town were for years at odds over its annual tax bill. The
club claimed its property was worth as much as 90% less than the town's
valuation. In July 2021, the town and the company agreed to a compromise
in which Ossining refunded the club about $875,000 and cut the property
assessment by close to 30%.
The investigation was led by Elliott Jacobson, a former assistant U.S.
Attorney who came out of retirement to serve as special prosecutor for the >> Westchester D.A. Jacobson told CBS News in May he had been a volunteer
working part-time for the office, and concluded his service in November
2022.
While its dispute with the town focused on an effort to reduce the club's
valuation, the club surfaced in a 2022 lawsuit against Trump and his
company for the opposite reason. The office of New York Attorney General
Letitia James alleged in its civil case that Trump inflated the club's
value, as well as other property valuations, in order to overstate his
personal net worth.
"At Mr. Trump's golf course in Westchester, the valuation for 2011 assumed >> new members would pay an initiation fee of nearly $200,000 for each of the >> 67 unsold memberships, even though many new members in that year paid no
initiation fee at all," James' office wrote. "In some instances, Mr. Trump >> specifically directed club employees to reduce or eliminate the initiation >> fees to boost membership numbers."
Trump and the company have vehemently denied all allegations related to
the New York attorney general's case, which is scheduled for an October
trial.
Representatives for Trump and the company did not respond to requests for
comment.
Other Trump legal cases
The Westchester County investigation's end represents a rare recent legal
win for Trump.
In September 2022, James' office sued Trump, three of his children and the >> company for $250 million, alleging widespread fraud and demanding a raft
of sanctions designed to limit for years their ability to do business in
New York. In December, two Trump Organization companies were found guilty
of 17 New York State felony counts related to tax evasion. In April, he
was charged in Manhattan with 34 state felony counts of falsification of
business records related to an alleged scheme to cover up a "hush money"
payment to an adult film star. In May, a federal jury unanimously found
Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming the writer E. Jean Carroll, >> awarding her $5 million. On Tuesday, Trump was arraigned in a federal
court in Miami on 37 felony charges stemming from special counsel Jack
Smith's investigation into Trump's retention of classified and top secret
documents after he left office.
He has entered not guilty pleas in all the criminal cases, and vehemently
denied all allegations. He has repeatedly accused Smith, James and
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of targeting him out of political
animus, an accusation he also previously levied against Rocah.
Rocah said Thursday that she hopes "the message that every American should >> take" in her closing the investigation is that prosecutorial decisions
aren't about politics.
"We do our job independent of politics or any other kinds of personal
political affiliations or beliefs, period," Rocah said.
--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.
Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.
LOL! Where are the libtards on RSG? They keep on claiming that Trump OVER VALUES his assets!!
You think the fact that one investigation was closed means that can't be
true, Sunshine?
Dropping this investigation doesn't even mean that he didn't overvalue
THIS property, dimwit.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)