I can’t remember if I ever posted this story here. I was going to visit a friend’s apartment for the first time in Seoul. (We lived there at the time). My friend lived in Tr.u.mp Tower III, which TFG did not own but his name was licensed to the building. She sent me Google map directions, which showed a satellite photo of her building. I noticed it has a helicopter pad on the roof, which was odd because there was a military base near her building so only military helicopters were allowed to fly in the nearby airspace. I mentioned it to her when I got to her apartment. She laughed and said that all the high rises south of the river in Gangnam had helicopter pads on the roof and TFG wanted any building with his name on it to be as fancy as the ones in Gangnam so he required they paint a fake landing pad on the roof before they could put his name on the building. When they did that, they also raised the rent due to a “helicopter pad access fee” being added, despite the fact that there were no stairs or elevators for the residents to get up to the roof (And a small matter of the military shooting them down if they tried to land a helicopter there). This was done in 2017, so clearly TFG was doing shady shit to manipulate rent/building value so that he could charge more for the licensing of his name after his election.
This case just keeps getting wilder. Most (all?) of the witnesses up to this point keep saying Trump and his three older kids were directly involved in everything.
Just now catching up on this stuff, but didn’t Sarbanes-Oxley come into being after shady business dealings like this?
Yes. But the Sarbanes-Oxley rules that the SEC was required to put in place after Congress passed the legislation (same with Dodd-Frank after the global financial crisis) only apply to publicly-traded companies; those that list their stock on the NYSE or NASDAQ. Privately-held companies, like the Chump’s, have few or no required disclosures and can be much less transparent, if not completely make shit up, about their business results. Public companies also have much stricter requirements about independent board members, audits by legit independent accounting firms, and more.
Just now catching up on this stuff, but didn’t Sarbanes-Oxley come into being after shady business dealings like this?
Yes. But the Sarbanes-Oxley rules that the SEC was required to put in place after Congress passed the legislation (same with Dodd-Frank after the global financial crisis) only apply to publicly-traded companies; those that list their stock on the NYSE or NASDAQ. Privately-held companies, like the Chump’s, have few or no required disclosures and can be much less transparent, if not completely make shit up, about their business results. Public companies also have much stricter requirements about independent board members, audits by legit independent accounting firms, and more.
Thank you for the info. It’s one of those things that was scratching in my brain but I didn’t know the details.
I hope the judge does jail him for his future violations. Millions of people would be grateful.
Do judges get a security detail on these types of cases? I mean I hope the same, but I would be very concerned being the judge or their family that brought that verdict.
They really don't understand that they've already been found guilty. I keep saying that, but I don't understand the how of it.
Mediocre white male privilege (except they're quite far below mediocre). Plus years of doing all sorts of illegal things and not having any consequences.
I heard a quote from Don Jr. today. He basically said that he didn't have initimate knowledge of the finances but because he signed off on it, he's being held liable. Um, yes sir. That is exactly what signing a legal document does- holds you accountable. What an idiot.