General Discussion

pnwmom

(108,990 posts) Fri Aug 4, 2017, 03:29 PM Aug 2017

Trump's Taj Mahal was fined $10M for money laundering in 2015 -- and no MSM reported that

during the campaign.

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/08/donald-trump-was-a-money-launderer.html

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) today imposed a $10 million civil money penalty against Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort (Trump Taj Mahal), for willful and repeated violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). In addition to the civil money penalty, the casino is required to conduct periodic external audits to examine its anti-money laundering (AML) BSA compliance program and provide those audit reports to FinCEN and the casino’s Board of Directors.

Trump Taj Mahal, a casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, admitted to several willful BSA violations, including violations of AML program requirements, reporting obligations, and recordkeeping requirements. Trump Taj Mahal has a long history of prior, repeated BSA violations cited by examiners dating back to 2003. Additionally, in 1998, FinCEN assessed a $477,700 civil money penalty against Trump Taj Mahal for currency transaction reporting violations.

SNIP

How was this fine not an issue during the campaign? Allegations of laundering money through casinos are nothing new, and it is a big problem as far as law enforcement is concerned. Trump’s penalty was the biggest ever doled out to a casino, until FinCEN fined Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino in the Northern Mariana Islands $75 million a few months later. They also fined Cantor Gaming $12 million in late 2016. Trump isn’t alone in the murky waters on this longstanding issue, which is what makes it even more egregious for the media to miss it.

A search of TV news archive for “Trump FinCEN” returns two videos—both from CSPAN in 2017 (a search of “Trump Financial Crimes Enforcement Network” returns several unrelated videos from 2017). Narrowing Google to search between the day this FinCEN release came out and election day returns a grand total of zero articles from really anyone on page one. The Hill and The Atlantic articles below are about separate FinCEN stories, and a link to a separate Trump article is what put his name on the page. The Facebook links go to some dude named The Conservative Minuteman.

5 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Trump's Taj Mahal was fined $10M for money laundering in 2015 -- and no MSM reported that (Original Post) pnwmom Aug 2017 OP

Ratings were great. Had to "keep it close" underpants Aug 2017 #1

I don't believe he actually was owner at the time, just licensed his name frazzled Aug 2017 #2

He sold his partial interest in 2014, but the violations penalized in 2015 covered 2010-2012. pnwmom Aug 2017 #4

Kick. dalton99a Aug 2017 #3

None of the other clowns in the GOP clown car brought it up, either. tanyev Aug 2017 #5

underpants

(182,873 posts)

1. Ratings were great. Had to "keep it close"

Reply to pnwmom (Original post)

Fri Aug 4, 2017, 03:47 PM

Aug 2017

frazzled

(18,402 posts)

2. I don't believe he actually was owner at the time, just licensed his name

Reply to pnwmom (Original post)

Fri Aug 4, 2017, 03:54 PM

Aug 2017

Though he'd run the place into the ground and had multiple bankruptcies before a restructuring in 2009 that ... oh hell, it's too complex for me. It still has the stink of him. Give Wikipedia a try:

The casino group filed for bankruptcy again in February 2009, owing $1.2 billion. Two sets of debt holders eventually proposed reorganization plans for the group in U.S. bankruptcy court.

Trump initially made an agreement with banker and poker player Andrew Beal, owner of Beal Bank, which held $500 million in the group's debt, to take over the resorts. However, citing concerns about the bank's lack of gaming experience, he dropped them in favor of hedge fund Avenue Capital Management, a plan favored by other bondholders. Beal then partnered with investor, Carl Icahn, who had worked on restructuring another Atlantic City casino, the Tropicana. In court, Trump argued that he would fight the Icahn/Beal team if they sought to use his name and likeness on the group's properties. Instead he signed an agreement with Avenue Capital in which he would receive 5% stock in the reorganized company and another 5% in exchange for the use of his name and likeness in perpetuity.

The bankruptcy court eventually sided with the Trump/Avenue partnership, favored by bond holders who believed that Trump's brand would result in a stronger company after reorganization.

In 2011, TER sold the Trump Marina to Landry's Restaurants, which also operates the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas.

Post-bankruptcy

In February 2013, the company agreed to sell the Trump Plaza for $20 million to the Meruelo Group, a California-based company whose holdings include the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno. The proceeds would be used to pay down the company's debt to a level of $270 million. CEO Robert Griffin said TER would consider also selling the Trump Taj Mahal for the right price.[32] However, Carl Icahn, who held the mortgage on the Trump casinos, would reject the sale of the Trump Plaza.[33]

In early August 2014, Donald Trump filed a lawsuit demanding removal of his name from the company's two casinos, because they had allegedly been allowed to fall into disrepair, in breach of the licensing agreement for Trump's name.

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

The casino was inaugurated by its then-owner Donald Trump in 1990, and was built at a total cost of nearly one billion dollars. Restaurants at the Taj included Dynasty, Il Mulino New York, Moon at Dynasty, Robert's Steakhouse, and Hard Rock Cafe. It was also the home of Scores, the country's first in-casino strip club.

The Taj Mahal came to the brink of closure in 2014 as its parent company went through bankruptcy, but ultimately remained open under the new ownership of Icahn Enterprises. On August 3, 2016, it was announced that the Trump Taj Mahal would close after Labor Day.[4] It was closed on October 10, 2016.

pnwmom

(108,990 posts)

4. He sold his partial interest in 2014, but the violations penalized in 2015 covered 2010-2012.

Reply to frazzled (Reply #2)

Fri Aug 4, 2017, 04:17 PM

Aug 2017

A Senate Committee has requested information.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/10/russia-probe-senate-requests-documents-from-money-laundering-watchdog-agency.html

The Senate panel has requested information about President Donald Trump and his top aides from a financial intelligence unit in the Treasury Department that imposed a $10 million civil penalty on Trump Taj Mahal in 2015 for multiple violations of money-laundering laws.

The Senate Intelligence Committee wants to see any information relevant to its Russia investigation the Treasury agency has gathered, including evidence that might include possible money laundering, according to a committee aide who spoke on condition of anonymity. Also at issue: to what extent, if at all, people close to Vladimir Putin have invested in Trump's real estate empire.

SNIP

In a consent order, Trump Taj Mahal admitted to having "willfully violated" reporting and record-keeping requirements under the federal Bank Secrecy Act from 2010 to 2012.

FinCEN's complaint said violations had been revealed by the Internal Revenue Service as far back as 2003. In 1998, FinCEN assessed a $477,700 civil penalty against Trump Taj Mahal for currency transaction reporting violations.

"Trump Taj Mahal received many warnings about its deficiencies," then-FinCEN Director Jennifer Shasky Calvery said in the 2015 statement. "Poor compliance practices, over many years, left the casino and our financial system unacceptably exposed."

dalton99a

(81,570 posts)

3. Kick.

Reply to pnwmom (Original post)

Fri Aug 4, 2017, 03:54 PM

Aug 2017

tanyev

(42,603 posts)

5. None of the other clowns in the GOP clown car brought it up, either.

Reply to pnwmom (Original post)

Fri Aug 4, 2017, 05:06 PM

Aug 2017

Reply to this discussion