Thread by @karolcummins

‼️Trump Family Deceptive Practices

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The late Fred Trump & his estate, funneled millions of dollars to his children, in possible violation of tax rules & criminal laws.

Docs show that Fred directed $413 million in today’s dollars to Donald
nytimes.com/interactive/20…

NOT the single loan for $1 million, with interest, that Donald has always claimed — it exploded Trump’s long-propagated claim that he is a self-made man.
nytimes.com/interactive/20…

📌Why did Trump spend more than $400 million in cash, with no loans, to buy properties between 2006 and 2015?
washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost…

The practice defied real estate logic, and Trump's own history as the self-proclaimed “King of Debt.” Where did he find the free cash? Did he take on any silent partners in these projects? He has not listed any in his financial disclosure forms. 
washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost…

📌This article examines another Trump claim: that his comeback & global expansion rested on the purity of a licensing strategy that paid him millions simply for the use of his name. That, it turns out, is no truer than the notion that Trump is self-made.
nytimes.com/interactive/20…

“Trump claims he only licensed his name for real estate projects developed by others. But an investigation of a dozen Trump deals shows deep family involvement in projects that often involved deceptive practices.”
features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

📌The Trumps were typically way more than mere licensors or bystanders in their often-troubled deals.

📌They were deeply involved in these projects.

📌They helped mislead investors and buyers — and they profited handsomely from it.
features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

📌Patterns of deceptive practices occurred in a dozen deals across the globe, as the business expanded into international projects, and the Trumps often participated.
features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

📌One common pattern, visible in more than half of those transactions, was a tendency to misstate key sales numbers.
features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

These statements weren’t just the legendary Trump hype; they misled potential buyers about the viability of the developments.
features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

📌Another pattern:

📌Donald Trump repeatedly misled buyers about the amount (or existence) of his ownership in projects in Tampa, Florida; Panama; Baja and elsewhere.
features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

📌In interviews and press conferences, Ivanka Trump gave false sales figures for projects in Mexico’s Baja California; Panama City, Panama; Toronto and New York’s SoHo neighborhood
features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

Trump said in 2005 his ownership would be less than 50%: “But it’s a substantial stake. I recently said I’d like to increase my stake but when they’re selling that well they don’t let you do that.” In reality, Trump had no ownership stake in the project.
features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

📌The Trumps often made money even when projects failed.

📌And when they tanked, the Trumps simply ignored their prior claims of close involvement, denied any responsibility and walked away.
features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

📌The cycle is exemplified in Trump’s involvement in a project to build a massive tower & complex known as the TOC.

📌The project’s unfortunate turns included bankruptcy, then, years later, the forcible ejection of the Trump Org from managing the hotel.
features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

Trump Org stmt:

📌”The Trump Org was not the owner, developer or seller of the Trump Ocean Club Panama project.”

📌”Because of its limited role, the company was not responsible for the financing of the project & had no involvement in the sale of units.”
features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

That stmt was false.

📌For starters, Trump arranged financing — his promised commission: $2.2 million or more — by bringing in investment bank Bear Stearns, which issued the bonds that paid for the Panama project’s construction.
features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

https://twitter.com/karolcummins/status/1104175117356036096?s=21

📌Ivanka stated she had sold 40 units. (A broker said he couldn’t remember her selling even one.)

📌Ivanka told a journo “over 90%” of the Panama units had sold — and at prices five times as high as comparable buildings.”

📌Both statements were untrue.
features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

📌But in between the sale of the bonds in 2007 and 2013, the year the building went bankrupt, buyers of 458 units in the 1,000-unit building abandoned their purchase contracts.

📌Those buyers forfeited more than $50 million in deposits,
features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

📌And they never took possession of finished units.

📌Given that the “buyers” were often shadowy shell companies or other paper entities, it was nearly impossible to discern who the actual purchasers were, let alone why they backed out.
features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

Trump licensed his name for an initial fee of $1M. But that was just the beginning of the revenue streams, a lengthy & varied assortment that granted him a piece of everything from sales of apt units to a cut of minibar sales, & was notable for the myriad
features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

Ways in which both success & failure triggered payments to him.
features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

📌📌The final accounting: In the wake of the Trump Ocean Club Panama project’s bankruptcy, a 50 percent default rate and his company’s expulsion from managing the hotel, Trump walked away with between $30 million and $55 million.
features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

📌The Trump Organization, which pledged not to launch new projects during the Trump presidency, is aggressively pursuing existing ones, including in the Dominican Republic, Indonesia and India.
features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

📌Finale Trump Ocean City Panama:

📌March 2018

📌Trump hotel standoff ends as president surrenders physical control

📌Police bring 12-day standoff with owners to an end

📌Hotel’s owners: ‘commercial dispute … just spun out of control’
google.com/search?q=trump…

@threadreaderapp unroll please and thank you.

#TrumpDeceptivePractices

#TrumpOceanClubPanama

📌Assassins Kill ‘Panama Papers’ Journalist Who Linked Ivanka Trump To Russian Money Launderer

politicaldig.com/assassins-kill…