Manafort, Cohen cases reveal weaknesses in enforcement of tax and election laws
Paul Manafort’s multiyear tax fraud and Michael Cohen’s ability to easily distribute campaign contributions as hush money could have been intercepted sooner based on existing rules.
But several decisions by policymakers and lawmakers to defang regulation and defund investigations, particularly through political pressure aimed at the Internal Revenue Service, helped the behavior to go unnoticed.
On Tuesday, Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, was convicted of eight tax- and bank-fraud charges — the same day Cohen, Trump’s former attorney, pleaded guilty to tax fraud and campaign finance violations. The felonies slipped past multiple agencies and were unearthed by prosecutors and journalists only after they began digging into Trump’s inner circle. White-collar crime experts believe similar behavior is flourishing throughout the political system, exploiting the yawning gaps in government scrutiny.
“Had it not been for their relationship with President Trump, these crimes would have ultimately gone unprosecuted,” said Eugene Soltes, an associate professor at Harvard Business School and expert on white-collar crime.
Such worries come amid a steady, multiyear decline in the number of financial fraud cases the government has pursued, erosions that began during the Obama administration after Republicans took control of Congress.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/manafort-cohen-cases-reveal-weaknesses-in-enforcement-of-tax-and-election-laws/ar-BBMqHmp?li=BBnb7Kz
= new reply since forum marked as read
