Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross accused of swindling business associates out of more than $120 mil

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

President Trump’s commerce secretary may have bilked business associates out of more than $120 million and could rank “among the biggest grifters in American history,” according to a report released Tuesday.

An investigation — which included interviews with 21 people who have worked closely with Wilbur Ross in the past — alleges that that the 80-year-old stole “a few million here and a few million there” throughout his career as an investment banker, Forbes reports.
The magazine previously reported that Ross fudged his finances in order to appear on the publication’s elite list of billionaires.

Disclosure forms Ross filed after his nomination by Trump showed he actually had less than $700 million in assets. Forbes removed him from their list last year.

“He’s a pathological liar,” a former colleague told the magazine.

Just two weeks ago, Ross quietly settled a $4 million lawsuit brought by a former employee who alleged Ross stole his interests in a private equity fund and then tried to cover it up with bogus paperwork.

Similar charges have been leveled against Trump’s economic sidekick in the past. A former vice chairman of Ross's private equity fund, WL Ross & Company, sued the New Jersey native for $20 million in 2005, alleged that he was cut out of his interests.

Another lawsuit alleges that Ross and his firm charged at least $48 million in improper fees on investments.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/commerce-secretary-wilbur-ross-accused-of-swindling-business-associates-out-of-more-than-dollar120-million/ar-BBLBX93?ocid=spartandhp

I know the best people - Donald J Trump

[sweetroxie]

1. Only the "best people."

nt

[zipplewrath]

2. Be Best

Apparently by any means necessary.

[Me.]

3. Even Bigger Tha The Comrade In The WH?

[struggle4progress]

4. Swiped free sweetener and didn't pay his domestic staff

Alexandra Ma
Aug 8, 2018, 12:32 AM

...
The US Commerce Secretary, who previously ran a private equity fund, is the subject of a bombshell report by Forbes that alleges that he swindled associates out of more than $US120 million in total ...

There were .. smaller allegations, too.

According two ex-colleagues at Ross firm, WL Ross, the millionaire once took handfuls of Sweet’N Low packets from a nearby restaurant so he didn’t have to go out and buy them for himself.

One added that workers at Ross’ house in the Hamptons used to call the WL Ross offices claiming that Ross had not paid them.

Another two associates also accused Ross of pledging $US1 million to an unnamed charity, then not paying up ...

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/wilbur-ross-swiped-sweetener-didnt-pay-house-staff-forbes-claims-2018-8

Modern Presidential Vetting: If I surround myself with crooks, they'll all be incredibly loyal to me! Plus I can have one exposed, whenever I need a quick distraction!

[struggle4progress]

5. Stole money from colleagues, Sweet'N Low from restaurants

BY BESS LEVIN
AUGUST 7, 2018 12:59 PM

... oss has a different take. “The S.E.C. has never initiated any enforcement action against me,” he told Forbes in a statement, conveniently failing to mention the $2.3 million fine it slapped his firm with in 2016.

In a court filing, David Storper, one of Ross’s colleagues who accused him of stealing millions, and who just reached a confidential settlement with the commerce secretary, enumerated some of the tycoon-turned-public servant‘s most recent tall tales. “Lying on an ethics disclosure form, to congressional and Senate committees, and falsely reporting compliance with an ethics plan, is neither ‘commonplace’ nor part of the accepted rough-and-tumble world of politics,” Storper argued. Or, as another former colleague put it to Forbes, “This is a public servant who can’t tell the truth.” So far the Scott Pruitts and Ryan Zinkes of the world have hogged the grifter spotlight, while Ross’s alleged misdeeds have largely flown under the radar. But with Pruitt out and Zinke preoccupied with craft beer, the commerce secretary could very well outlast them all ...

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/08/wilbur-ross-stole-money-from-colleagues-sweetn-low-from-restaurants

[SharonAnn]

6. Of course.

[Capperdan]

7. A Million here, a million there

Just chickenfeed to Trump's buddies.

[triron]

8. Glorious corruption.

[struggle4progress]

9. A New Grift King

AUG 7, 2018

...On November 1, 2017, Ross signed a sworn document, attesting that he had divested all the assets he promised he would. That was not true. The commerce secretary in fact still owned somewhere between $10 and $50 million worth of stock in WL Ross’ parent company, Invesco. Ross sold his shares a month later, banking at least $1.2 million more than he would have if he sold in May, when he initially promised to divest. By falsely claiming he gotten rid of the shares earlier, Ross also put himself in legal jeopardy, since it is a crime to lie to federal officials. Representatives for Ross, a sophisticated investor, claimed the commerce secretary did not lie but instead failed to realize he owned the shares.

Ross also said he did not know he had a $73,000 stake in a company named Air Lease, which he finally sold in June—more than a year after he promised he would. And he admitted to shorting stock of Sun Bancorp, saying he hoped to cancel out an interest he mistakenly thought he owned but in fact did not. “For any head of any private equity firm that I know of, including like [Carlyle’s David] Rubenstein or [Blackstone’s Stephen] Schwarzman—these guys know what they own. It’s their whole business. It’s their whole life,” says an investor in WL Ross’ funds, terming the commerce secretary’s explanation “ridiculous” ...

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a22663557/wilbur-ross-120-million-grift-donald-trump/