F.B.I. Raids Office of Trump’s Longtime Lawyer Michael Cohen

originally posted by: JoshuaCox
a reply to: Meniscus

No he used a referral because whatever crime the lawyer commited was outside of the “Russian collusion “ charter.

So he hands off the evidence to the New York DA and the New York office thought it was enough evidence to raid him.


PS Cohn didn’t do much lawyering for trump.. he was his shady side lawyer who handled off the record stuff..

He has big wig buisness lawyers for his day today stuff.

Mueller is expanding the whole hunt.

Bringing in state people to try and take down Trump.

Yes, Trump is naieve in thinking people do their jobs.

I hope he hits back so hard against these people that their grandchildren are sterile.

originally posted by: Harpua
Trump will probably go down as one of the most corrupt people in the United States of America. He ran scams like Trump University to con struggling people out of their money. He lent his name to pyramid schemes. He bankrupted casinos and still somehow made millions while others were left holding the bag. He refused to pay vendors. He exploited foreign workers. He used illegal labor. He discriminated against African-American renters. He violated antitrust laws. He did business with the mob and with Eastern European kleptocrats. His properties became the go-to vehicle for Russian oligarchs and mobsters to launder their money.

Each one of these well documented pieces of history doesn't seem to sway his base, the cognitive dissonance is impressive in its strength.

Sure.

Who cares, he was not POTUS at the time, remember how that works?

It's not like he was SoS and took 13 mil from the Ukraine.

25 mil from Saudi's.

God knows who else., right?

a reply to: TheRedneck

So Cohen goes to his bank and takes out a loan on “his” house.

He then pays $130K to Daniels in hush money, ostensibly out of his own pocket.

On board AF1, Trump even confirms that Cohen used his own money, and that Cohen would have to be the one to ask about where that money came from, since Trump claimed no knowledge of its source.

Good so far? Right.

But Clifford and her attorney state that she was paid by Cohen’s LLC, EC LLC.

So, did Cohen take a loan on his house to fund the LLC?

Or did the LLC actually hold the deed to Cohen’s house, which would have allowed Cohen, if he was the managing member of the LLC, to authorize the recapitalization? (Provided that the proper procedures were followed to withdraw and disburse the LLC capital assets)

Or did Cohen simply “wash” the funds from the mortgage through the LLC?

Or did Cohen even bother with LLC at all regarding the payment to Clifford and just whip out his...

Wallet?

originally posted by: Bhadhidar
a reply to: TheRedneck

So Cohen goes to his bank and takes out a loan on “his” house.

He then pays $130K to Daniels in hush money, ostensibly out of his own pocket.

On board AF1, Trump even confirms that Cohen used his own money, and that Cohen would have to be the one to ask about where that money came from, since Trump claimed no knowledge of its source.

Good so far? Right.

But Clifford and her attorney state that she was paid by Cohen’s LLC, EC LLC.

So, did Cohen take a loan on his house to fund the LLC?

Or did the LLC actually hold the deed to Cohen’s house, which would have allowed Cohen, if he was the managing member of the LLC, to authorize the recapitalization? (Provided that the proper procedures were followed to withdraw and disburse the LLC capital assets)

Or did Cohen simply “wash” the funds from the mortgage through the LLC?

Or did Cohen even bother with LLC at all regarding the payment to Clifford and just whip out his...

Wallet?

Doesn't matter.

I've had a few LLC's.

Takes about 5 mins to set up.

Just need a lawyer for the paperwork.

originally posted by: burgerbuddy

originally posted by: Bhadhidar
a reply to: TheRedneck

So Cohen goes to his bank and takes out a loan on “his” house.

He then pays $130K to Daniels in hush money, ostensibly out of his own pocket.

On board AF1, Trump even confirms that Cohen used his own money, and that Cohen would have to be the one to ask about where that money came from, since Trump claimed no knowledge of its source.

Good so far? Right.

But Clifford and her attorney state that she was paid by Cohen’s LLC, EC LLC.

So, did Cohen take a loan on his house to fund the LLC?

Or did the LLC actually hold the deed to Cohen’s house, which would have allowed Cohen, if he was the managing member of the LLC, to authorize the recapitalization? (Provided that the proper procedures were followed to withdraw and disburse the LLC capital assets)

Or did Cohen simply “wash” the funds from the mortgage through the LLC?

Or did Cohen even bother with LLC at all regarding the payment to Clifford and just whip out his...

Wallet?

Doesn't matter.

I've had a few LLC's.

Takes about 5 mins to set up.

Just need a lawyer for the paperwork.

It matters.

If Cohen paid Clifford out of his own, personal funds, bypassing the LLC he set up to “handle” the Clifford matter, then the NDA, which was arraigned between Clifford and EC LLC could be void based in non-payment by the designated party.

If Cohen paid Clifford out of his own pocket as the managing member of an SMLLC registered in DE, which does not recognize SMLLC’s, the NDA contract is void since the LLC did not legally exist the state in which it registered.

If Cohen paid Clifford as the Managing member of a recognized, multi-member LLC, and was authorized to make such payments by the LLC’s charter, there is still the question of where the LLC funds to make that payment came from.

And how they were accounted for by the LLC.

This is where questions about fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion begin to arise.


Setting up an LLC is easy.

But once you’ve set it up, you still have to run it in compliance with the applicable laws and tax regulations.

In my career, I’ve lost count of how many people, like you, who thought that LLC’s are “easy”, most of them CPA’s, Accountants, and Attorneys (many with big name according firms) only to run afoul of a law here or a regulation there and end up owing tens of thousands of dollars.

And P.S.:

Only a lawyer will tell you you need a lawyer to set up an LLC.

originally posted by: TheRedneck
a reply to: Sillyolme

It is against the law to lie to a federal institution like a bank to obtain a loan.

It is not against the law to lie to a bank.

A bank is not a Federal institution... it is a private entity.

TheRedneck

If you lie to the bank to obtain funds, it is fraud. That is against the law.

a reply to: rnaa

How is taking out a mortgage lying to obtain funds?

TheRedneck

a reply to: Bhadhidar

It all depends on how he set up the LLC.

I had a C-corp once. Much more regulated than an LLC. Ran it for 10 years. There's all kinds of legal means to move assets from personal to corporate. The biggest difficulty is in not piercing the corporate veil. The easiest way? Hire your company to represent you. The LLC handles the transaction, and pays the money which you provide. Done. Legal. Nothing untoward about it.

Don't put too much faith in what the lawyer or Daniels remembers. I had a customer when I first opened up that sent me all his overflow work (which was more than what he did). The first year I filled out the taxes for me and the taxes for the company. I got back a letter from the IRS saying I made twice what I did. Turns out, even though all the payments were made to the business, all the invoices were from the business, and he had the tax ID for the business for 1099 purposes, the guy looked up my SS# and used it! The IRS took the business income I had reported and added in the 1099 with my SS#. It took about 3 months to straighten that out, all because he assumed something.

People do not always get the story right.

Never had an LLC... my company was before they added LLCs to the available corporate structures. I started with $500... $200 to the lawyer to draw up the papers and the rest to supplies and equipment. Lasted 10 years until I got in bad health and had to close down.

I am considering starting up another corporation, and It'll probably be an LLC too handle R&D work. The regulations are more along the line of a S-corp, but it has the growth potential of a C-corp. And of course, it has the legal protections... that's what corporations are for.

TheRedneck

a reply to: TheRedneck

Unless he lied on the mortgage application, it's not. If he lied about his potential use of the funds and put something other than personal reasons, that could be bank fraud. But seizing his laptop and phone won't tell them that, for that they need to go to the bank.

a reply to: Dfairlite

I have never had a bank even ask why I wanted the money, except for the cases I mentioned above where my purchase was the collateral. If I ever saw even a space on the application for use of funds when I already owned the collateral, I would rip it up and walk out without another word.

I cannot believe how many people think a bank should control what they can use their money for. No wonder this country is so screwed up!

TheRedneck

a reply to: TheRedneck

I've seen the space on applications, but I don't think it's an approve/deny question. But more importantly, if bank fraud is what they're going for, why were they raiding his personal conversations? All they have to do is subpoena the records from the bank. Same with wire fraud. A persons personal documents would have hardly any bearing on either offense.

a reply to: Dfairlite

Finally! A reasonable observation! I agree... and please forgive my enthusiasm. I was honestly starting to think the world had finally gone completely mad.

To be honest,I have been racking my brains for a reasonable explanation to why the DoJ would conduct this raid. Surely they knew what the optics would look like... and as you said, they could just subpoena records if this was about Daniels.

I have been hearing the phrase 'taxi medallions'... do you know what those are? I have never heard of such a thing; maybe it's a NY thing.

TheRedneck

originally posted by: Meniscus
a reply to: F4guy

I must be missing how a personal equity loan is bank fraud or breaks campaign finance laws. If you pay off a porn star to sign an nda.

It is a crime to pay more than $2700 to or on behalf of a presidential campaign.

a reply to: TheRedneck

They're basically permits to run a cab service. Like a liquor license but for cab services.

a reply to: F4guy

So perkins coie is in big trouble then?

a reply to: Dfairlite

Ah, OK, thank you!

So... why would Cohen have any? Does he run a taxi service?

TheRedneck

a reply to: F4guy

Is paying off a porn star a normal campaign expense?

TheRedneck

originally posted by: TheRedneck
a reply to: F4guy

Is paying off a porn star a normal campaign expense?

TheRedneck

Sadly yes it is politicians now spend lots of money hiding the past. Times have changed I guess. Then again in the past they just ran them off bridges so I guess it's getting better.

originally posted by: DanDanDat

However the punishment of the guilty is determined by public opinion and that is why the government is full of the guilty.

No. That isn't true either.

a reply to: TheRedneck

Here's a decent explanation, of course you'll have to filter the CNN out of it.

www.cnn.com...