Trump's Taxes Show He Engineered A Sudden Windfall in 2016

[highplainsdem]

Source: NY Times

-snip-


And the president’s long-hidden tax records, obtained by The New York Times, also reveal this: how he engineered a sudden financial windfall — more than $21 million in what experts describe as highly unusual one-off payments from the Las Vegas hotel he owns with his friend the casino mogul Phil Ruffin.

-snip-

The tax records, by their nature, do not specify whether the more than $21 million in payments from the Trump-Ruffin hotel helped prop up Mr. Trump’s campaign, his businesses or both. But they do show how the cash flowed, in a chain of transactions, to several Trump-controlled companies and then directly to Mr. Trump himself.

The bulk of the money went through a company called Trump Las Vegas Sales and Marketing that had little previous income, no clear business purpose and no employees. The Trump-Ruffin joint venture wrote it all off as a business expense.



-snip-
“Why all of a sudden does this company have more than $20 million in fees that haven’t been there before?” said Daniel Shaviro, a professor of taxation at the New York University School of Law. “And all of this money is going to a man who just happens to be running for president and might not have a lot of cash on hand?"

-snip-



Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/10/09/us/donald-trump-taxes-las-vegas.html

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Mods, please note: The headline above is the one showing up on Twitter links and on Google.

The NYT page itself reads:

THE PRESIDENT’S TAXES
TRUMP ENGINEERED A SUDDEN WINDFALL IN 2016 AS CAMPAIGN FUNDS DWINDLED
Tax records expose more than $21 million in highly unusual payments from the Las Vegas hotel Donald Trump owns with Phil Ruffin, routed through other Trump companies and paid out in cash.


By Susanne Craig, Mike McIntire and Russ Buettner

Jon Ralston thread about this article starting here (the second tweet in this thread links to the NYT article and shows the headline I've used for posting this OP):

Link to tweet

[exboyfil]

1. Spiro Agnew ain't got nothing like Trump

[ihas2stinkyfeet]

2. and then where did it go? to the princess consultant?

[Miguelito Loveless]

3. Was the money paid in rubles?

[BComplex]

4. Russia. Money laundered through the casinos.

[PSPS]

5. Yes. The Atlantic City casino was also a busy laundromat in its day.

[Mr.Bill]

15. I think Trump's hotel that he is a partner in in Las Vegas

doesn't have a casino.

[BComplex]

17. Even the restrooms have slot machines in Las Vegas.

I cannot in my wildest dreams imagine a hotel in las vegas without a casino. Such a thing may exist, but I cannot imagine that.

[Mr.Bill]

19. Here's their website.

No mention of a Casino.

https://www.trumphotels.com/las-vegas?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8dTFqJuo7AIVia_ICh0USwy7EAAYAyAAEgIPF_D_BwE

[BComplex]

21. Holy shit! They don't have gaming! And it's non-smoking!

That's pretty strange being in Las Vegas. But you're right, Mr. Bill! I never could have imagined such a thing.

[Mr.Bill]

22. A few years ago they opened up a Hotel in Reno

right downtown that has no gaming. Just a hotel, spa/gym and nice restaurant.

I wonder if the Trump place has no Casino because he can't get a gaming license in Nevada. You know who used to be Nevada's Gaming Commissioner? Harry Reid.

[BComplex]

24. No! I didn't know that!

That would be hilarious if he really can't get a gaming license. And I had no idea Harry Reid was the commissioner back when.

Small world, sometimes.

[Rural_Progressive]

25. Back in the 80's

the Australian government refused to give him a license based on his Mob ties

[Mr.Bill]

26. Because of his small stature and mild demeanor,

republicans always thought Reid was some kind of wimp. The fact is he ran the mob out of Las Vegas. He's a bigger badass than just about everyone in DC.

[Progressive Jones]

30. Harry Reid was portrayed in the film "Casino". His character was played by Dick Smothers.

There is a scene in which the Gaming Commissioner (Reid) is part of a shady deal to
revoke the gaming license of Robert DeNiro's character.

[Mr.Bill]

31. True to a certain extent.

Smothers did play the gaming commissioner, but the character was somewhat fictionalized and was never meant to be an accurate portrayal of Harry Reid. The part about trying to run the Mafia out is true though.

[Progressive Jones]

32. Many in that film were "fictionalized". However,

every character was based in a real person.
Pencil, DeNiro, etc al , were playing figures
from the Chicago "Outfit".
The Chicago crew ran the illegal side of Vegas in those days. There are/were people in my extended family who were part of it. I've heard some crazy shit over the years about 60s/70s Vegas.

Look up "Spilotro". That’s who Pesci portrayed.

[Mr.Bill]

33. Yes, that's pretty much what Hollywood does.

Same thing in Goodfellas. They also use "composite" characters just to facilitate compressing a story down to two hours. I saw a documentary recently about The Great Escape and they said there were composit characters in that, too.

[FakeNoose]

23. Pffft! $21 million from the Russians? This is chump-change

He got billions from the Russians, especially from Pootie and friends.

The Russians have been buying Chump's condos for the last 20 years because he couldn't launder their money fast enough through the casinos. The casinos need to follow laws and regulations, but luxury condo sales to illegal foreigners? Nobody's watching what they do.

[Baked Potato]

6. And, this flaky flow of funds was on the books,

one can just imagine what is off the books.

[dalton99a]

7. Kick

[elias7]

8. Show how does the IRS respond, now that they got beat at their own game?

Asleep at the wheel or told to ignore Trump's dealings. Can't imagine that would pass an audit, though I know nothing about accounting.

[maxsolomon]

12. the IRS has been neutered.

they basically are unable to respond until he's gone.

the 72.9 million refund? that's tied up in a secretive congressional committee. that has Republicans on it.

[SayItLoud]

9. Give Phil Ruffin a call, have him come in and explain...then he'll flip on tRUMP.

These guys don't EVER want to piss off the Nevada gaming commish.

[bronxiteforever]

10. Kick and recommend.

[wiggs]

11. So this is front page news today, right? nt

[KS Toronado]

13. A Biden administration should put new requirements on LLCs

To many of them are for money laundering purposes only. How many of these so called "companies" have no real address, no secretary to answer an non existing phone, etc, etc?

[Bengus81]

14. Phil Ruffin is from Wichita and unlike Trump IS a billionaire....

They been good friends for a long time and yeah would help that POS out of money jams.

[Illumination]

16. Hmm...something smells fishy about 21+ million just showing up! That's why he's creating

lots of distractions now. What a great feeling to have a crime figure running our country!...

[IronLionZion]

18. If this is the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, there's no casino

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_International_Hotel_Las_Vegas

So it's extra suspicious how they got a sudden windfall. It would be easier to launder money through a casino.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

20. Trevor Potter walks you through the serious criminal implications of today's NYT story on Trump fina

CertainTinyLittleFishHat Retweeted

Trevor Potter walks you through the serious criminal implications of today's NYT story on Trump finances

Link to tweet

[H2O Man]

27. Recommended.

[muriel_volestrangler]

28. Quid pro quo: Republicans in 2017 stopped blocking funding for a Las Vegas rail link

In broad strokes: Trump and his campaign were both out of cash in the fall of 2016; a company he owned with Ruffin put $21 million in his pocket more or less out of the blue; Trump suddenly had $10 million to spend on his election; and in 2017 a long-stalled project to build a train into Las Vegas suddenly got greenlighted.
...
In the background of all this, Ruffin and basically every other businessperson in Las Vegas has been trying since forever to build a train that would connect Los Angeles (or thereabouts) to their town. The Obama administration tried to get it financed with a $5.5 billion federal loan, but Jeff Sessions and Paul Ryan killed that deal in 2013.

"We tried and tried and couldn't get it done," Mr. [Harry] Reid said in a recent interview. Along the Strip, though, he joked that the only dissension was over whose casino would be closest to where the train would stop. "They know it would be a godsend to their businesses," he said.

Trump himself famously killed high speed rail in California, but when it comes to the project that would benefit Las Vegas — where he himself still owns a stake in that hotel — his views are different. After Ruffin personally lobbied Trump, Steven Mnuchin, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, the Transportation Department approved the last billion dollar tranche of tax free bonds to finance the project. KA-CHING.

https://www.wonkette.com/trumps-tax-returns-the-vegas-hotels-edition

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

29. Lock him up!!!!!