Why Trump and daughter Ivanka could end up in jail for the tax revelations
The New York Times' revelations about Donald Trump's tax past could be dangerous not only for the US President, but also for his daughter Ivanka - and turn the November 3rd election into a real fateful election.
The US broadcaster CNN speaks of a "bomb" hidden in the New York Times' tax revelations about Donald Trump: The newspaper reported on Monday that the US president has paid little or no taxes in recent years Paid federal level by declaring more losses than profits for his companies. As CNN now reports, Trump apparently did so with the help of his daughter Ivanka - and a trick that could possibly even put both of them behind bars.
Trump's company is said to have paid Ivanka Trump twice
Donald Trump wrote off $ 26 million in undeclared "consulting fees" between 2010 and 2018, of which almost $ 750,000 apparently went to Ivanka Trump, although she was at the same time a senior employee of the Trump Organization, her father's corporation, CNN said the "New York Times" article. Although the consultants are not listed by name in Trump's tax filing, a comparison with Ivanka Trump's financial disclosures when she started work at the White House in 2017 shows that a consulting firm she was co-owner received a total of $ 747,622. That is exactly the amount that was claimed by the Trump Organization as a tax deduction for hotel projects in Vancouver and Hawaii. Ivanka Trump would have been paid twice, once as an employee and once as an advisor to the group.
Since Ivanka Trump was an employee of the Trump Organization at the time, there could have been "no legitimate reason" for these payments, said lawyer and former prosecutor Nick Akerman, who also scrutinized then President Richard Nixon's tax payments during the Watergate affair had on CNN. The two might have moved the money back and forth to avoid paying taxes on it.
When asked whether the newspaper's revelations could even mean a prison sentence for Donald Trump in the end, Akerman replied, "That is out of the question. And his daughter could go to jail too." The newspaper report describes a number of activities that could be classified as tax fraud. Tax evasion is a capital crime that can be punished with five years in prison, said Akerman. "It's a pretty serious crime, and the more money is stolen, the longer you have to go to jail for it."
Donald Trump denies wrongdoing
And in fact, it could be a lot more money than the roughly $ 750,000 to Ivanka Trump. The recipients of the remaining approximately $ 25 million, which are said to have been written off by the Trump Organization during this time as "consulting fees", are not revealed in the "New York Times" report. Given the alleged payment to his daughter, it is "not terribly far-fetched to wonder whether all or most of these 'consulting fees' have gone through a similar process," speculates CNN.
Donald Trump denies any wrongdoing. However, he also refuses to make his tax returns public, as has been the practice for US presidents for nearly half a century, in an attempt to refute the allegations. Ivanka Trump's office responded to a request, according to CNN, by referring to Trump's campaign team, whose spokesman Tim Murtaugh described the reporting as a "hoax" but provided no explanation for the alleged payment.
For Donald Trump and his daughter, the November 3rd presidential election could become a real fateful election due to the New York Times revelations. "The only thing that saves him right now is the Justice Department policy that says you can't indict an incumbent president," Akerman said on CNN. "As soon as he is no longer acting president, charges can be brought against him." "Any decent public prosecutor" could make a "fairly workable" case out of the allegations.
