Charities steered $65M to Trump lawyer Sekulow and family

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By MICHAEL BIESECKER

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jay Sekulow, one of President Donald Trump’s lead attorneys during the impeachment trial, is being paid for his legal work through a rented $80-a-month mailbox a block away from the White House.

The Pennsylvania Avenue box appears to be the sole physical location of the Constitutional Litigation and Advocacy Group, a for-profit corporation co-owned by Sekulow. The firm has no website and is not listed in national legal directories. The District of Columbia Bar has no record of it, and no attorneys list it as their employer.

But Sekulow, 63, is registered as chief counsel at the American Center for Law and Justice, a non-profit Christian legal advocacy group based in an expansive Capitol Hill row house a short walk from the Senate chamber.

A half dozen lawyers employed by the non-profit ACLJ are named in recent Senate legal briefs as members of Trump’s defense team — including one of Sekulow’s sons. The ACLJ, as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization, is barred under IRS rules from engaging in partisan political activities.



In this Jan. 28, 2020 photo, Jordan Sekulow, right, the executive director of American Center for Law and Justice, opens a gate as he arrives at a property on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)


Read more: https://apnews.com/9d2ed80ca912d18abd6650f55d2db935

[global1]

1. Is Sekulow's Son's First Name....

Hunter?

[not fooled]

2. Every time this trump tool gets mentioned

on the teevee, there should be a mention of the scams he is involved with.

Another scumbag getting a pass in the media, because he wears a suit and operates at a high level.

[chowder66]

3. They spelled Russians wrong. nt

[keithbvadu2]

4. 'Charity' money.

[dalton99a]

5. Great article on the scumbag

The Republican National Committee has paid more than $250,000 to Sekulow’s for-profit CLA Group since 2017, when he was first named to Trump’s legal team as special counsel Robert Mueller was leading the Russia investigation, according to campaign disclosures.

The Associated Press reviewed 10 years of tax returns for the ACLJ and other charities tied to Sekulow, which are released to the public under federal law. The records from 2008 to 2017, the most recent year available, show that more than $65 million in charitable funds were paid to Sekulow, his wife, his sons, his brother, his sister-in-law, his nephew and corporations they own.

A 2005 investigation by the publication Legal Times reported about questionable spending at ACLJ, quoting former employees describing millions in charity funds being spent to support the Sekulows’ lavish lifestyle, which included multiple homes, golf junkets, chauffeur-driven cars and a private jet used to ferry then-Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. The Guardian and The Washington Post reported additional details in 2017, shortly after Sekulow was named as Trump’s lawyer.

Over the 10-year-period examined by AP, the tax returns show nearly $37 million in charitable funds were paid by ACLJ to the CLA Group, the phantom law firm listed on court filings as defending Trump.

A Brooklyn native, Sekulow graduated from Mercer Law School in Georgia and briefly worked for the Internal Revenue Service before going into private practice in Atlanta with his former classmate Roth in the early 1980s. The pair specialized in buying and selling historic properties as tax shelters, but the business collapsed after disgruntled investors sued them over alleged fraud and securities violations. Court records show both Sekulow and Roth filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 1987.

....

[DeminPennswoods]

22. That is some high end grifting right there

[crickets]

24. This level of grifting is breathtaking. nt

[TryLogic]

6. Good Job!! However dug this up.

[2naSalit]

7. They are all compromised!

[marble falls]

8. The more I know about Sekulow, the skeezier he seems.

[Karma13612]

15. This might seem like a very small point but

Pay attention to the pens that Trump’s top guns use. Especially Sekulow. They are really really high end fancy.

Then compare to the ones that the House managers use: bics, paper mates, the occasional Parker possibly.

[marble falls]

18. Its not a small point. I watch the pen thing. The closer the attention they pay to pens ...

the less attention they pay to people. They're all wrapped up in themselves.

[Karma13612]

23. Yes! Well stated. Nt

[Scarsdale]

9. tRump attracts scum to himself

like flies to a dung heap. Are there NO honest people in this administration? NONE?

[dalton99a]

10. +1. Criminals don't hire normal people

[not fooled]

11. ++++++++

And the $$$$$ spent to prop up this tool is chump change and peanuts invested for the oligarchs to keep red don protected so that he can continue to dismantle the country for their benefit.

[lagomorph777]

12. Uh-oh. Looks like Trump's whole legal team is subject to disbarment.

Oops.

[KWR65]

13. Yes, Most Charities are really just scams

There is maybe 3% that really help people, but the rest are just used by people to line their pockets. I wish the USA would change the law on so-called charities.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

17. Please.

Don't paint charities with the same broad brush stroke you used as a metric for comparison in this case.

Or, let's put it this way: post some actual evidence to support your spurious statement.

[yardwork]

19. Link for that assertion?

[MineralMan]

27. Let's see your evidence for that, please.

Links or whatever.

[riversedge]

14. "Sekulow appears to be mixing his defense of Trump with his charitable endeavors. The group has issu

Now for the Law to crack down on him.


The Associated Press reviewed 10 years of tax returns for the ACLJ and other charities tied to Sekulow, which are released to the public under federal law. The records from 2008 to 2017, the most recent year available, show that more than $65 million in charitable funds were paid to Sekulow, his wife, his sons, his brother, his sister-in-law, his nephew and corporations they own.

Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy, said Sekulow appears to be mixing his defense of Trump with his charitable endeavors. The group has issued a “Donor Alert” about ACLJ on its CharityWatch website.

“Charities are not supposed to be taking sides in partisan political activities, such as providing legal services to benefit a politician in an impeachment trial,” Borochoff said. “Regulators should investigate whether or not charitable resources, such as office, labor, equipment, etc., are being wrongly utilized to benefit Sekulow’s for-profit law firm.”................................

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

16. Everyone of them is corrupt

[Captain Zero]

21. They HAVE to be doing even more than this. Money Laundering?

It just seems so vague and fishy for a charity. They are money laundering some way.

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. This looks self-evidently illegal

Tax records show ACLJ now receives the bulk of its $23 million annual budget from CASE. All six of the charity’s paid board members share the last name Sekulow, including Jay’s wife, Pam, and their sons, Jordon and Logan.
...
Federal law forbids charities from excessively benefiting those who have “substantial influence over the organization.” Owens said both the IRS and state attorneys general should investigate.

“This is an apparent web of organizations that seem to exist to pay compensation to Sekulow and his family members,” said Owens, who is now in private practice. “That pattern clearly raises questions for those entities that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) as to whether they’re operating for a public benefit or the private benefit of Jay Sekulow and his family members.”

It's painfully obvious the Seulow family completely controls the charity, and pays itself ridiculous salaries and fees just for existing. Which it takes in through "charitable donations" that fundamentalist nutjobs send in to support whatever fuckwittery the ACLJ gets in the news for.

They are getting paid tens of millions to be TV lawyers for the far right, and structuring it as a charity scam.

[ck4829]

25. Kick

[Gothmog]

26. Like all trump supporters, this asshole is a grifter and con man

[MissMillie]

28. Remember the days when money for charity

actually went to people who need charity?

It's enough to make your stomach turn.