The Many Mysteries of Brett Kavanaugh's Finances

[babylonsister]

The Many Mysteries of Brett Kavanaugh’s Finances
Who made the down payment on his house? How did he come up with $92,000 in country club fees?
Stephanie MencimerSep. 13, 2018
2:25 PM



Before President Donald Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, he had a lot of debt. In May 2017, he reported owing between $60,004 and $200,000 on three credit cards and a loan against his retirement account. By the time Trump nominated him to the high court in July 2018, those debts had vanished. Overall, his reported income and assets didn’t seem sufficient to pay off all that debt while maintaining his upper-class lifestyle: an expensive house in an exclusive suburban neighborhood, two kids in a $10,500-a-year private school, and a membership in a posh country club reported to charge $92,000 in initiation fees. His financial disclosure forms have raised more questions than they’ve answered, leading to speculation about whether he’s had a private benefactor and what sorts of conflicts that relationship might entail.

No other recent Supreme Court nominee has come before the Senate with so many unanswered questions about his or her finances. Partly that’s because many of Kavanaugh’s predecessors were a lot richer than he is. Chief Justice John Roberts, for instance, had been making $1 million a year in private practice before joining the DC Circuit as a judge. The poorer nominees had debts, but explainable ones, such as the $15,000 Sonia Sotomayor owed to her dentist. Neil Gorsuch came the closest to financial scandal when he disclosed that he owned a mountain fishing lodge in Colorado with two men who are top deputies to the billionaire Philip F. Anschutz, who had championed Gorsuch’s nomination.

Kavanaugh’s finances are far more mysterious. During his confirmation hearing last week, he escaped a public discussion of his spending habits because no senator asked about it. But on Tuesday, Sen. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent Kavanaugh 14 pages of post-hearing follow-up questions, many of which involved his finances. On Thursday, Kavanaugh supplied answers, but he dodged some of the questions and left much of his financial situation unexplained.

A number of the questions Whitehouse sent to Kavanaugh dealt with the house he bought in tony Chevy Chase, Maryland, in 2006 for $1.225 million. Kavanaugh would have needed $245,000 in cash for the traditional 20 percent down payment on the house. But in 2005, when his nomination to the DC Circuit was pending, Kavanaugh reported a total net worth to the Senate of about $91,000, which reflected a mere $10,000 in the bank and $25,000 in credit card debt. According to his financial disclosure forms before and after the purchase of his house in 2006, Kavanaugh’s liquid assets and bank balances never totaled more than $65,000, and those balances didn’t decline after the purchase of the house.

Whitehouse wanted to know why. He wrote, “The value of assets reportedly maintained in your ‘Bank of America Accounts’ in the years before, during, and after this purchase never decreased, indicating that funds used to pay the down payment and secure this home did not come from these accounts. Did you receive financial assistance in order to purchase this home?”

more...

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/09/the-many-mysteries-of-brett-kavanaughs-finances/

[CincyDem]

1. I wonder if there's bank fraud in here.

If, as is reported, his financials didn't support the down payment...did he lie to the bank ? When I bought my house they wanted to track the down payment back to the printing press where it was minted.

If they did that here, what did they learn and why was the answer acceptable.

If they didn't do it, why not.

Either way, there's a loan officer or a mortgage broker out there that knows exactly what happened in this house purchase.

[Initech]

10. Oh there absolutely has to be bank fraud in there somewhere.

Anyone who's that up there in debt and has it suddenly vanish has got to be up to something shady, and it doesn't take a forensic auditor to figure that one out. Just a matter of time before the shit really hits the fan!

[Augiedog]

2. I guess we are about to find out thecash value of a Supreme Court Justice

[bucolic_frolic]

3. "a loan against his retirement account"

http://www.wisestockbuyer.com/2012/06/can-you-use-ira-accounts-as-collateral/

The next best option for most people, then, is to use the assets in the IRA as collateral for a loan. Unfortunately, the IRS frowns upon this; if they find out that you’ve collateralized your IRA, then they’ll consider the entire amount as disbursed – which means you’ll take a 10% penalty on the entire amount.

__________________

And he wouldn't, at his age then or now, likely have that level of assets in an IRA.

[CincyDem]

11. That's true if it was an IRA. If, however, it was a 401k or 403b that might not be an issue.

401k (company plans) and 403b (government/teachers plans) often include the ability to borrow from the account. I understand the phrase loan against his retirement account implies collateralization but, given his tenure as a government employee, I suspect his only retirement account is a 403b.

There isn't an IRS issue with borrowing from your 403b, other than losing any growth that might occur while the $$$ are out on loan. The issue comes if you quit or are fired while the loan is out. IIRC, you have 30 days to pay back the loan. If you fail to pay back the loan, it becomes a disbursement. Once it's a disbursement you pay income tax on the amount and, if you're under 59 1/2, you pay an additional 10% penalty.

I don't know what the contribution level is to the federal 403b plans. I think it depends on GS level or something like that. It's possible as an appellate judge for 12 years or something like that, plus his WH and bench time before that, he might have +200k in his 403b.

Not defending the guy but, in the grand scheme of things, he's got so much shittier stuff going on that has more probability of hitting home. Just my opinion.

[erronis]

4. It doesn't all have to be carrots ($s) to influence a potential SCOTUS judge - it can be sticks

I think we're finding out the the global mobs that currently run the US gov't as well as Russia and others use multiple tactics to get their assets "in line."

First hook them with some supposedly untraceable cash and then hold the possible disclosure of said bribes over them the rest of their lives - and in the case of a SCOTUS judge, the rest of most of our lives.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

5. NOT supreme court material -- call!

If this is the best they can do, they should stop looking under rocks.
Let Senators know you want better quality on YOUR Supreme Court.

Senate DC phone directory [phone].

Join DU's BigmanPigman army of callers!
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=11102387

[appalachiablue]

6. Today's news, he clarified the CC debt, 'I'm a huge baseball fan'! more...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/kavanaugh-on-going-into-debt-for-baseball-tickets-im-a-huge-sports-fan/ar-BBNg9ZC

[bronxiteforever]

7. He is as slimy as they come. The Con chose his judicial reflection.

[renate]

8. wow

It's just unbelievable how much crap is below the surface of everything this administration does.

[DoctorJoJo]

9. This Turd Blossom Is a Repuke Through and Through!

[highplainsdem]

12. K&R

[yortsed snacilbuper]

13. "Oh! What A Tangled Web We Weave When First We Practice To Deceive"

"Oh! What A Tangled Web We Weave When First We Practice To Deceive"

A sudden light on Marmion broke:–
"Ah! dastard fool, to reason lost!"
He muttered; "'T was nor fay nor ghost
I met upon the moonlight wold,
But living man of earthly mould.
O dotage blind and gross!
Had I but fought as wont, one thrust
Had laid De Wilton in the dust,
My path no more to cross.–
How stand we now?–he told his tale
To Douglas, and with some avail;
'T was therefore gloomed his rugged brow.–
Will Surrey dare to entertain
'Gainst Marmion, charge disproved and vain?
Small risk of that, I trow.
Yet Clare's sharp questions must I shun,
Must separate Constance from the nun–
Oh! what a tangled web we weave
When first we practise to deceive!
A Palmer too!–no wonder why
I felt rebuked beneath his eye;
I might have known there was but one
Whose look could quell Lord Marmion."