Does a con man have to become PRESIDENT before he is PROSECUTED?

[lostnfound]

A guy can set up 400+ LLC's in Delaware, avoid taxes, use his "charitable foundation" and "other people's money" to buy portraits of himself and to pay off court-ordered settlements, while leaving defrauded students and vendors and damaged pig farmers in his wake. Yet justice never comes knocking hard enough to stop him.

Are there other guys like this one, who just skate along escaping their obligations and not paying taxes and using fake charities, who also aren't being prosecuted?

I'm glad that the New York State Attorney General is going after him -- refusing to let him dissolve his foundation until their investigation is complete -- but it begs the question, why the hell has he gotten away with it for so long? Why now?

Many institutions have failed us, not just the TV media that gave him so much airtime, but various entities including the IRS, courts, and State Attorney Generals who let a guy continue in his many questionable business dealings for decades, long before he decided to run for president.

Was it his political contributions that were so successful in warding off prosecution? Was it simply no accountability for a rich man?

Does a high-dollar con man have to run for president before his criminal activities garner serious attention?

[mythology]

1. There's the issue that what is wrong isn't always prosecutable

For example the penalties for self-dealing with the Trump Foundation are fines, not jail time.

As for the Delaware incorporation, that's legal. It shouldn't be, but it is. It may be the same with avoiding taxes, the approach he used may well be legal. It's scummy and violates the spirit of the law, but that's not inherently illegal.

Prosecuting white collar crime is harder than more sort of base crimes. Especially when a guy can hire an army of lawyers to tie things up in court. To prove somebody stole my tv, I have to prove they have it, and they took it from me. It's a physical object. To prove financial crime, you have to untangle a much bigger web.

It's not enough to just "know" something is illegal. Lots of Republicans just "know" Obama is from Kenya and thus isn't really the President. Likewise, they just "know" the Clintons had Vince Foster killed, or that Bill Clinton committed rape.

You have to actually prove a crime was committed.

[lostnfound]

6. I understand what you are saying. However...

I agree that the financial crime is harder to untangle. I can't imagine the tax returns for a guy who has 400 LLCs can be very simple. The IRS probably is challenged to figure it out, but that's why we have, and need, that institution.

Supposedly he's under audit. Is this the first one? Some of his most recent transgressions have been so blatant that I find it hard to believe he hasn't been guilty of actual crimes for decades. A guy would try to pay political contributions out of his charitable foundation, or by portraits to put in his profit corporations using charitable foundation money, or bribe government officials like Pam Bondi into dropping investigations, surely has not led a squeaky clean legal life until now.

My suspicion is that his political contributions to both parties helped suppress desires to investigate. The guy who steals the candy bar from the convenient store gets prosecuted; a guy can run a red light can get a fine that they can't pay, can end up with municipal penalties so steep that take away his license, his livelihood and even his freedom. But the guy who steals on a bigger scale can get away with it for decades.

Donald should have lost his license to do business a long time ago. Haha. Yeah, I know the problems with that idea too. But in his case, it would have been justice and would have protected society.

[PatSeg]

9. Trump even admitted

in a debate that he "gives" to politicians and when he calls, they give him what he wants. In exposing the system, he was also exposing himself. He was essentially admitting to bribery. Oh there I go again, taking him literally.

It is hard to believe he has lasted as long as he has though. He tends to be very reckless and impulsive in his business decisions. The way he ran his casinos into the ground was ridiculous and why would he agree to put his name on an obvious fraud university?

[mercuryblues]

2. No they don't

Ripping off the 1% is another way. Just ask Bernie Madoff.

[HoneyBadger]

3. Not sure what the issue is with incorporating in Delaware

Most corporations are. Seriously, over half.

[lostnfound]

5. Over 400 LLCs points to a shell game

What he does with them may or may not be legal, but given the transparent illegality of some of his actions -- buying portraits of himself with charitable foundation money and hanging them in corporate offices, or making political donations from his charitable foundation -- I'd guess that one wouldn't have to scratch very deep to find a lot more.

[Dustlawyer]

7. The wealthy use a bunch of shell corps and trusts to filter their money

so they pay zero in taxes. They all do this dodge, like Leona Helmsley famously said, only the poor pay taxes. She was made an exception and went to prison for tax evasion, but her point was true.

[LaydeeBug]

4. such an important point. nt

[HopeAgain]

8. Are there other guys like this one?

Pretty much all of the 1%... (And it's only going to get worse)

[world wide wally]

10. It just goes to prove that if you have enough money, the laws do not apply to you.

How many times has he been busted and settled the case out of court. This is beyond a pattern. It is a lifestyle.
He is a serial fraud.