Trump owes more than ***$50 million*** to an LLC that exists mostly on paper.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Kevin M. Kruse Retweeted

The biggest mystery in @realdonaldtrump's financial disclosures: he owes more than ***$50 million*** to an LLC that exists mostly on paper. No employees, no office, no assets of its own.
That mystery lender, Chicago Unit Acquisition LLC,
just filed its annual report. This is it.

Link to tweet

This one-page doc from the Illinois Sec. of State is the only annual public proof that this LLC even exists.
It shows -- as always -- that this huge creditor of @realdonaldtrump's is owned by Trump's own company.
@trump Org has not explained why or how.

Link to tweet

[SWBTATTReg]

1. Yeah, rump owning interest payments/etc. to himself, so he can write off on taxes to ...

himself paying interest charges. I wonder if he's declared this as income too, on the other side of the fence (interest expenses vs. income, equal in size).

[tinrobot]

9. He declares it as income to banks loaning him money.

He forgets to declare it to the IRS, but he still deducts the payments.

I guess that makes him smart... it also makes him a crook.

[joost5]

17. How can companies have no employees and still be companies?

[radical noodle]

25. There must be ownership

but not employees. Many companies do this for a variety of reasons. I've worked for small corporations who formed LLCs and sold their assets to the new company, then paid rent to the LLC. That allows for the assets to be depreciated all over again and the "rent" the original company pays is just enough for the LLC to pay the original company for the assets. The LLC never had to pay a dime for any employees.

[DENVERPOPS]

27. I think

I think that the entire world will learn in the future that most, if not all, of this self acclaimed BILLIONAIRES wealth is a figment of his imagination and purely exists only on paper.......

[NewJeffCT]

2. I bet if one were to dig deep enough

Chicago Unit Acquisition is owned by another company that's in the Caribbean, and then another company elsewhere in the Caribbean and then that company is then owned by another company maybe in Cyprus or similar. And, the company is Cyprus is a front from Russian mobsters.

[louis-t]

3. Watch "American Greed, Scoundrels and Scammers"

This is a typical pyramid or money laundering scam. It's how they 'loan' other peoples' money to themselves. One of these days, they will do an episode on drumpf. It's a gonna be a two-parter. Or more.

[Mme. Defarge]

14. Multiple seasons!

[malaise]

4. Off to the greatest page

RFN!

[calimary]

18. Off to the Pulitzers again for David Fahrenthold, I'd guess.

[malaise]

19. Ditto

[Wellstone ruled]

5. Ponzi ponzi ponzi.

One of the tools used in Ponzi Schemes.

[Mike 03]

6. A good article on this scandal

Business Insider

Trump may have committed tax fraud by fabricating a loan to avoid paying income taxes on nearly $50 million

snip

Mother Jones' investigation found that Trump was able to clear his debt with Deutsche Bank and Fortress Investment Group over the next several years but that Fortress ultimately agreed to accept just $48 million back for the loan it had made to Trump, which by that time was worth around $100 million.

That means one of two things occurred:

Fortress considered the loan repaid and forgave more than $50 million of debt from Trump, an action known as a discounted payoff. If that happened, the debt would be considered taxable income, and Trump would have had to pay as much as a 39% income tax on it.

Trump bought the remaining debt using a corporation and "parked" the money there to avoid paying income taxes on it. This practice, known as debt parking, is legal as long as the borrower plans to repay the rest of the loan. It's illegal to engage in this indefinitely.

Two sources with direct knowledge of the Fortress loan told Mother Jones the hedge fund didn't sell Trump the loan and instead canceled the debt after Trump repaid about half of it.

But Trump still claims he owes millions related to the Trump hotel project in Chicago.

"That means there may have been no loan to buy, no debt to park; Trump might have invented a loan — and then parked it" to avoid paying taxes on $48 million of income, Mother Jones reported.

More at: https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-may-have-made-up-loan-tax-fraud-mother-jones-2019-9

[crickets]

20. One of the many data points showing why he is desperate to keep his tax records hidden.

This one scam alone just boggles the mind. Link to the Mother Jones article mentioned:

Donald Trump Has Never Explained a Mysterious $50 Million Loan. Is It Evidence of Tax Fraud?

Donald Trump’s massive debts—he owes hundreds of millions of dollars—are the subject of continuous congressional and journalistic scrutiny. But for years, one Trump loan has been particularly mystifying: a debt of more than $50 million that Trump claims he owes to one of his own companies. According to tax and financial experts, the loan, which Trump has never fully explained, might be part of a controversial tax avoidance scheme known as debt parking. Yet a Mother Jones investigation has uncovered information that raises questions about the very existence of this loan, presenting the possibility that this debt was concocted as a ploy to evade income taxes—a move that could constitute tax fraud.

[AtheistCrusader]

26. He's stupid enough to hire Guiliani, imagine the idiots he has managing his money.

[Brainfodder]

51. Self centered opportunist that can't say NO?

Ultimately they are fighting this absurd fight now probably because they know they are DONE.

This fight is all they got left before they rot or suicide, amazed Mr. Stone was cut loose before his sentencing, won't be at all shocked if he winds up deceased the day before he's taken to his cell.

...cowards... Moscow Mitch, DJT, & the whole lot of scoundrels who have announced themselves during all of this, looking at you Jim Jordan!

[politicaljunkie41910]

33. If these Financial Disclosure forms that Trump is signing are required of Trump as President,

as is for every other Federal Employee as well; those documents are signed and submitted under penalty of perjury. If Trump is lying, than he is guilty of perjury, and that shouldn't require a complete audit of all Trump's financial records to prove perjury, just review of this one document in question. Either it's a legitimate debt or it's not, and the burden of proof would be on Trump to prove that this debt is legitimate or not. The IRS can make that determination without a full blown audit, (though I have nothing against the IRS doing a full blown audit of this shyster's financial records). Also, there are some instances where debt forgiveness is considered as income and is taxable. Again, this doesn't require a full blown audit to decide one way of another. Trump has been cheating the system his entire life. Time for the IRS to grow a pair and make an adult decision now; and stop letting him run out the clock.

[RestoreAmerica2020]

7. Damn is there no end to odious traitor [& family] in WH criminality/corruption? Can you imagine if

...what he did have gotten away with had we not come out in full force in 2018..and some pundits [friend and foe] say we won't win in 2020..hell yes we will!

[Kind of Blue]

30. +Infinity to every single word!

[moonscape]

45. The only question is if we can vote in

numbers that overwhelm the inevitable interference. He would be trounced in an honest election.

[UpInArms]

8. That little shenanigan reminds me of a thing called

Check kiting ...

Was an old real estate developer trick on moving invisible money

[lapfog_1]

10. Leo Getz would be proud

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2pizn7

[sandensea]

11. Signature loans have become the preferred method of bribery these days

It's a bribe as they're not meant to be paid back - except, of course, in kind (i.e. favors).

[paleotn]

12. Tax fraud.

[Duppers]

46. Indeed and deserving of *PRISON* time.

Or is someone unconstitutionally above the law?

https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000006734732/pelosi-impeachment-trump.html

[Raster]

13. tRump* may have a secret creditor...

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/02/does-trump-have-mystery-creditor/

Among Donald Trump’s debts—the source of some of his most intractable conflicts of interest—is a mystery loan that Trump has not publicly explained. And this means that the president could have a secret creditor to whom he owes tens of millions of dollars.

According to Trump’s financial disclosure records and various news reports, Trump is carrying hundreds of millions of dollars in debt. These transactions could provide his creditors with leverage over the new commander-in-chief. Moreover, it would be difficult for Trump to refinance or modify the terms of his various loans without raising suspicion that he is receiving favorable treatment because of his position. (Imagine a bank gives him a good rate. Would this suggest it might receive preferential treatment from the US government Trump heads?) Because Trump has refused to release his tax returns, it’s impossible for the public to know exactly how much he owes and to whom. And Trump never kept his campaign promise to reveal all his creditors and obligations.

The financial disclosure form he filed last year did note more than a dozen loans totaling at least $713 million. But the full amount could be more. And buried in the paperwork is a puzzling debt that ethics experts say could suggest that Trump has a major creditor he has not publicly identified.

According to the disclosure, in 2012, Trump borrowed more than $50 million from a company called Chicago Unit Acquisition LLC. (The true value of the loan could be much higher; the form requires Trump only to state the range of the loan’s value, and he selected the top range, “over $50,000,000.”) Elsewhere in the same document, Trump notes that he owns this LLC. That is, he made the loan to himself. There’s nothing necessarily unusual about that.

<snip, more>

[FakeNoose]

16. Right, and the creditor could well be a foreign company or person

Since Delaware is notorious for allowing "file drawer" holding companies with fake addresses to register with the intent of avoiding taxes and oversight, the Chump corporation used to advise its Russian customers to do exactly that.

Many Russian mobsters bought condos in Chump's buildings using names like "ABC Holding Company" with a fake Delaware address, when the real funds came straight from Russia. It's money laundering of the highest order.

[Raster]

23. tRump* and his "real estate" businesses have been prime cash laundries for the Russians*...

...citizens, Russian* mob, Russian* oligarchs (frequently one and the same with Russian* mob) and Russian* government officials (again: mob, oligarch, government officials... many times it's hard to tell the difference).

[Botany]

15. Fucking grifter

This one-page doc from the Illinois Sec. of State is the only annual public proof that this LLC even exists.
It shows -- as always -- that this huge creditor of @realdonaldtrump's is owned by Trump's own company. @trump Org has not explained why or how.

[gratuitous]

21. Doing a little poking around

DJT Holdings, LLC is registered in New York as a foreign limited liability company registered in Delaware (in this case, "foreign" means "outside the state of New York," and not necessarily a corporation from another country.

After trying DJT Holdings LLC and several variants on the Delaware Corporation search site, I didn't turn up any entity by that name registered in Delaware.

[Mr. Ected]

22. This is a lot more real than the quest for a non-existent birth certificate

Why, oh why, is the narrative not the same under these circumstances?

Because Trump is a mob boss, and the mob protects itself. Now, with full constitutional powers.

[SunSeeker]

24. K & R & Retweeted!

[pioche4]

29. WaPo on it last year...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/after-selling-off-his-fathers-properties-trump-embraced-unorthodox-strategies-to-expand-his-empire/2018/10/08/2179a12e-c806-11e8-9b1c-a90f1daae309_story.html

[Glimmer of Hope]

28. Doesn't one of his mob friends have something to

do with Chicago?

[Scurrilous]

31. K&R

[SleeplessinSoCal]

32. how to distill this for popular consumption?

Connect the dots, etc...

[Blue Owl]

34. Trump and his filthy lucre

May his grubby little hands speed up his downfall...

[Totally Tunsie]

35. Corporation in a Box...

The most you need is a checkbook and a box of stationery.

[Mc Mike]

36. Seems crooked, mobbed up, illegal.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

37. Mother Jones: We uncovered information that raises questions about the very existence of this loan.

David Fahrenthold Retweeted

Reminder: Trump owes $50 million to one of his own companies. We uncovered information that raises questions about the very existence of this loan, presenting the possibility that this debt was concocted as a ploy to evade income taxes.⁠

Link to tweet

[pecosbob]

38. And what's the lesson we've learned here today, boys and girls?

FTM...follow the money.

[bucolic_frolic]

39. It's a puzzling one for sure

I'm wondering if using shell corporations lending to one another it is possible to create equity, sort of like the fed's fractional reserve banking that creates money when it is lent out. Trouble is I think accountants would pick up on it, so maybe you have shadow corps that you don't tell anyone about?

I'm just imagining out loud.

[NCjack]

40. Conald -- everything about him is a con, bribe or

shakedown. Someone is paying him for taking Malignia into the White House.

[Roland99]

41. Farenthold was on this last year, along with Lincoln's Bible and SpicyFiles

Start of a long thread:

Link to tweet

[Roland99]

42. LONG and detailed thread showing links to Trump Tower Chicago w/this LLC (money laundering???)

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1049475871160061958.html

[Roland99]

43. ADDITIONALLY - Is this linked to Concord companies (indicted by Mueller)???

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=11256396


Offshore Leaks link:
https://offshoreleaks.icij.org/nodes/14081727

[Duppers]

47. Wow! nt

[mahatmakanejeeves]

44. Thanks for digging that up. DU covered it then too. Not only that, but....

October 8, 2018: Trump owes $50 million *to his own Delaware corporation* w/ address in Trump Tower in NYC

February 23, 2017: Mystery $50 Million Loan

This has to be one of the earliest mentions of it at DU, if not the earliest mention.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

48. Repukes right about one thing..

Impeachment taking time from other efforts like finding more attrocities.

[ET Awful]

49. Then he defaults on the loan to himself and writes off the loss on the other end for a deduction.

n/t

[matt819]

50. Russia?

The post observes that the LLC is owned by trump's company. Pardon me, but why would I believe anything associated with that company or that family?

So. Some other options, with the trump org as the front:

Putin?

Other Russian oligarchs?

Erdogan?

Or maybe it's just a paper transaction to enable tax avoidance/evasion. If he really owes the money, complete with documentation, payments, terms, conditions, etc., then it could be tax avoidance. If he doesn't owe anything, it's just a paper transaction to give him the chance to deduct the interest. I think that would be tax evasion.

Tax returns anyone?

In short, he's a con man and a crook, and so much more.