Thread by @davidenrich

Exclusive: Steve Mnuchin did what looks like a big favor for his longtime friend, the infamous financier Michael Milken -- the latest controversy around the Trump administration's “opportunity zone" tax breaks. Big story by @EricLiptonNYT @JesseDrucker nytimes.com/2019/10/26/bus…

@EricLiptonNYT @JesseDrucker Mnuchin and Milken met repeatedly to discuss opportunity zones, which are supposed to help poor areas. His @MilkenInstitute pushed @USTreasury to make them easier to qualify for.

We learned that Milken stands to profit from what his institute is advocating.

@EricLiptonNYT @JesseDrucker @MilkenInstitute @USTreasury Days after meeting with Milken and his institute, Mnuchin told Treasury staff to ignore guidelines on how to designate areas as opp zones and to certify an area in the Nevada desert.

The result: a 700-acre property that Milken co-owns suddenly became eligible for the tax break.

@EricLiptonNYT @JesseDrucker @MilkenInstitute @USTreasury Treasury and IRS staff were very upset.

A former senior Treasury official spoke to us *on the record* to complain. And IRS staff wrote a scathing memo warning about what Mnuchin was doing.

Here's that memo: documentcloud.org/documents/6521…

@EricLiptonNYT @JesseDrucker @MilkenInstitute @USTreasury @IRSnews Milken and his institute say their advocacy on opportunity zones had nothing to do with Milken's investments, which they say the institute staff didn't know about.
The Treasury says Mnuchin didn't know about Milken's investments.

@EricLiptonNYT @JesseDrucker @MilkenInstitute @USTreasury @IRSnews This is the 2nd big @nytimes investigation into the opportunity-zone bonanza. Earlier, we wrote about how money from the tax break is flowing to luxury developments -- including some owned by Kushner Cos. and @Scaramucci. nytimes.com/2019/08/31/bus…

@EricLiptonNYT @JesseDrucker @MilkenInstitute @USTreasury @IRSnews @nytimes @Scaramucci It's also worth noting that Mnuchin stood to gain something else of huge value from @realDonaldTrump.

Some of Trump's closest advisers -- including Mnuchin, Jared Kushner and Rudy Giuliani -- were supporting a bid for Milken to get a pardon for his federal crimes.

@EricLiptonNYT @JesseDrucker @MilkenInstitute @USTreasury To clarify prior tweet: We do •not• know that Mnuchin and Milken met "repeatedly" to discuss opportunity zones. We know they met at least once to discuss them.