Mueller Finds "Discrepancy" - Suggests Building Permits Were Used for "Renovations" to Launder Money

[kpete]

Last edited Fri Nov 17, 2017, 01:03 PM - Edit history (1)

🚨 NEWS 🚨 Manafort's indictment says millions were spent renovating his homes.
@Business spent weeks reviewing building permits and the numbers don't appear to add up




MORE:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-17/the-questionable-math-behind-manafort-s-extravagant-home-renovations

and THIS;

Trump may not have deliberately set out to facilitate criminal activity in his business dealings. But, as this Global Witness investigation shows, licensing his brand to the luxurious Trump Ocean Club International Hotel and Tower in Panama aligned Trump’s financial interests with those of crooks looking to launder ill-gotten gains. Trump seems to have done little to nothing to prevent this. What is clear is that proceeds from Colombian cartels’ narcotics trafficking were laundered through the Trump Ocean Club and that Donald Trump was one of the beneficiaries.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/report-trumps-panama-resort-took-money-from-farc-money-launderer?utm_content=bufferbb8e3&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Link to tweet

[Baitball Blogger]

1. It is about time that the Real Estate Industry get put under the microscope!

I hope this is the beginning.

[Merlot]

4. Money laundering can go through any industry.

Money laundering can go through any industry.

[Baitball Blogger]

7. I'm concerned about an industry that has too close ties to our Florida legislators.

[DetlefK]

8. But real estate has the advantage that you can make a single high-value deal.

Like Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen selling a house worth $2 million for $10 million in cash to unnamed russian investors.

Sure you could do something similar with planes and ships and stuff like that, but it would look weird to the FBI and the IRS if you are flipping planes on a monthly basis.

[maxsolomon]

20. Craft Beer? Lighting Design? Pet Walking?

Some industries are a tad easier to utilize.

[Zoonart]

2. Money Laundering

Anyone watching Ozark (terrific btw) on Netflix? It's a primer on how to launder dirty money.

[Merlot]

6. Yes, it was amazing.

Remeber the owner of the inn (spoiler alert) how she found the money and drove away? Nice storyline, but I wonder how she was able to spend it. You can't leave the country with it, can't deposit it in a bank. So it sounds like she had all this freedom, but making it work out...well, I'd still like to give it a try ; )

[Hortensis]

19. Believe $10K's still the magic amount for little people.

$10K or over in cash deposited or withdrawn requires notification. I think that might be each day, though, not needing to clarify never found out. I do recall that breaking up, say, $24K into 3 deposits to avoid reporting is can be a very quick way to bring oneself to the attention of a federal prosecutor.

[Buns_of_Fire]

23. "Structuring" -- and banks have programs to detect it both coming in AND going out. nt

[Hortensis]

24. Of course it'd have a word. Those damned computers! :)

Sadly, we've only needed to know once. And that was only how to stay out of trouble. It'd at least have been nice to need to know how to launder money.

[Orsino]

13. Or else he's hilariously bad with money.

I'm not seriously proposing this, but either way, Trump hired a bad guy for reasons which will no doubt become clearer.

[Zoonart]

16. I hear you...

prepare to hear a lot of the "My dope was an innocent dupe." defense. It won't play.

[Thomas Hurt]

3. Manafort and Donnie were both money launderers, that is why he ended up in the campaign...

[dalton99a]

5. Manafort belongs in prison.

[Wellstone ruled]

9. Ops,somebody exposed one of the

ways Real Estate Developers and Hustlers use to Hide Money wither legal or illegal. Watch the Tax writers go nuts over this. Thank You Mr. Mueller,this will be used to nail the whole Trump Crime Family.

[FarCenter]

10. In some jurisdictions, permit fees are a function of the estimated cost

So it would be reasonable for the contractor to low-ball the estimate.

[neohippie]

12. Is that ethical or legal

If you're knowingly low balling your cost estimate by 3/4 of the actual cost, to avoid paying a higher permit fee, isn't that also criminal behavior, sounds like fraud one way or the other

[FarCenter]

15. In some jurisdictions, the valuation for permitting can be a standard price per added square foot.

This might be a lot less than the actual job if the architecture is complex and top quality materials are used.

[Duppers]

11. K & R

[C Moon]

14. Anyone think ANY of these people breaking the law (BIG TIME) will go to prison?

I don't believe it.
But someone caught shoplifting will most likely do jail time.
The crimes these bastards are committing are so HUGE, with so much money involved, so many people affected (some even traitors to their own country), they should be put away for decades—even life (for all I care).

[Hekate]

17. KnR

[meow2u3]

18. 2003 article on how to spot money launderers

http://www.wealthmanagement.com/archive/how-spot-money-launderers

What follows is a primer on money laundering rules that can help you address these issues before they become potential career killers.

Illegally gotten gains have long been the target of Federal regulations. Highlights range from the $10,000 threshold-reporting requirement of the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 to the Suspicious Activity Reports (SAR) of the 1986 Money Laundering Act. More recently, The USA Patriot Act of 2001 puts banks and, via NASD Rule 3011, all broker/dealers on the front lines of this financial battle.

The Patriot Act requires broker/dealers to establish and maintain anti-money laundering education and monitoring procedures. With penalties that quickly run up to $500,000 — plus double the amount laundered — it makes sense to learn the provisions of the act.

The Patriot Act aims to fight money laundering by removing subjectivity from certain ethical decisions. Special punishment awaits those found to be “willfully blind.” However, because the requirements are statutory, even a good-faith lapse can become an actionable offense.

The Patriot Act's SAR provisions, which took effect January 1, target transactions of $5,000 or more which involve funds derived from illegal activity. Telltale signs of this include the disguising of a transaction's source or an obvious departure from normal business. Some other red flags include:

This is a very informative and important read, an oldie but goodie.

[LiberalFighter]

21. Looking forward to Trump family suffering financially if this works out.

Considering that US banks did not want to deal with the family.

[Corvo Bianco]

22. What if this investigation takes 13 years?