CNN: "Trump's casino was a money laundering concern shortly after it opened"

[emulatorloo]

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/22/politics/trump-taj-mahal/index.html

Trump's casino was a money laundering concern shortly after it opened
By Jose Pagliery, CNN Investigates
Updated 8:21 AM EDT, Mon May 22, 2017

Story highlights
-- Trump's Taj Mahal casino broke anti-money laundering rules in the 1990s
-- It was the preferred spot for Russian mobsters to gamble
-- Episodes like this in Trump's business past will get more scrutiny from Senate investigators

<snip>

(CNN) The Trump Taj Mahal casino broke anti-money laundering rules 106 times in its first year and a half of operation in the early 1990s, according to the IRS in a 1998 settlement agreement.

It's a bit of forgotten history that's buried in federal records held by an investigative unit of the Treasury Department, records that congressional committees investigating Trump's ties to Russia have obtained access to, CNN has learned.

The casino repeatedly failed to properly report gamblers who cashed out $10,000 or more in a single day, the government said.

<snip>

The violations date back to a time when the Taj Mahal was the preferred gambling spot for Russian mobsters living in Brooklyn, according to federal investigators who tracked organized crime in New York City. They also occurred at a time when the Taj Mahal casino was short on cash and on the verge of bankruptcy.

-----------------

Much more at link.

[cilla4progress]

1. What kills me

is this is not new news!

[dalton99a]

3. No kidding

[emulatorloo]

7. CNN notes that key details not released to the public at the time

And that the congressional committees have asked treasury dept financial crimes unit for information on Trump:


----
CNN obtained 417 pages of Treasury Department documents under the Freedom of Information Act. The records included the 1998 settlement, draft and final copies of a similar settlement in 2015, and exchanges between the Trump casino lawyers and federal regulators.

The 1998 settlement was publicly reported at the time, and the Associated Press noted it was the largest fine the federal government ever slapped on a casino for violating the Bank Secrecy Act.
>>>But key details of the casino's cash reporting violations are missing from the publicly released documents, including the identities of the gamblers and casino employees involved in the transactions.<<<<

The congressional committees had asked the Treasury Department's financial crimes enforcement network, or FinCEN, to provide any information it has on Trump, his businesses, his top officials and campaign aides.

----

[cilla4progress]

15. Interesting!

Thanks.

[Alice11111]

20. Most of the big scandles out there have been out for months

I guess NYTand big boys wait until they can confirm more sources. Half the time, I see BREAKING NEWS, and it something that's been around a long time, just without traction. Also, many have said they can only handle so many at a time.

[Madam45for2923]

25. Yep! CNN could've "uncovered" all this years ago! Cay Johston's book on Trump had lot of this info

It was there for the picking.

[Eliot Rosewater]

27. Nope, not at all. Now, sure, if it was a Democrat, ANY democrat, it would be

front page news for years, I mean if an innocent email server is front page news for 2 years, can you IMAGINE!

We are a badly and severely fucked up place now that this can happen.

[dalton99a]

2. That's where he learned the craft

[Wounded Bear]

4. And the beginning of his being owned by the Russians....nt

[PatSeg]

5. And his casinos still failed

He can't even cheat and be successful.

[DK504]

8. LOL!

This asshole can't do anything right. Some please put up a complete list of all his crimes.

[PatSeg]

14. His father tried to bail him out

with an illegal loan, but eventually that casino failed anyway. How can someone with failure after failure in business, be called a successful businessman? He was, however, successful in marketing himself.

The Trump Files: The Shady Way Fred Trump Tried to Save His Son's Casino

It involved several million dollars in casino chips.

Donald Trump's career was built on help from his father, Fred, whether it was the years Trump spent managing his dad's apartment building or the political connections and multimillion-dollar loan guarantee that made cash-strapped Donald's first deals possible. So it's no surprise that Fred tried to bail his son out of trouble when Donald's Trump Castle casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, was about to miss an interest payment in December 1990.

By then, Trump had already defaulted on the debt from his Taj Mahal casino. If Fred simply wrote Donald a check, the money would be used to pay off that debt. So, as the Washington Post's Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher describe in their new book, Trump Revealed, the elder Trump sent a lawyer to the Trump Castle to sneak money straight into the ailing casino's coffers.

The lawyer, Howard Snyder, approached the casino cage and handed over a certified check for $3.35 million, drawn on Fred's account. Snyder then walked over to a blackjack table, where a dealer paid out the entire amount in 670 gray $5,000 chips. The next day, the bank wired another $150,000 into Fred's account at the Castle. Once again, Snyder arrived at the casino and collected the full amount in 30 more chips.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/09/trump-files-fred-trump-funneled-cash-donald-using-casino-chips

[PatSeg]

19. Here is a rather concise

list of Trump's crimes and scandals over the years.

"The Many Scandals of Donald Trump: A Cheat Sheet"

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/donald-trump-scandals/474726/

[Eliot Rosewater]

28. This is WHY the deplorables like him, he is their "daddy"

[PatSeg]

30. Sadly

That is probably true. Many would probably do the same thing in a heartbeat if it would benefit them. However, if the opposition does them, THEN it is a crime or a scandal.

[brush]

10. If you go broke in the casino business you don't belong in business.

Every game on the floor favors the house.

[smirkymonkey]

12. +1000

If I hear one more time about what a great business man he is, I'm going to puke!

[Lucky Luciano]

29. Going broke usually involves being over leveraged.

Too much financing can break any business. Especially if dump is running it.

[brush]

32. Yeah, especially if you spend too much on stupid plastic gew-gaws and fake turrets...

like trump did at that monstrosity called the Taj Mahal casino.

That place was a tacky joke when it opened.

[MelissaB]

11. You think that wasn't on purpose?

[Hestia]

35. Doesn't it sound like all the businesses were a pump and dump scheme? It was no accident

or bad management (okay, may that) but this all sounds not unlike what Henry Hill in Goodfellas explains in how it happens on purpose, with the small business owner left with the debt.

You gots to pay to play

[IronLionZion]

33. Was it part of the money laundering?

did Russian mobsters have a tendency to win big payouts? Casino chips could easily be used to transfer money between people. Losing money could be part of the scheme and is definitely a red flag worth investigating.

Money laundering is a sick and twisted business that is in all sorts of unlikely places.

[PatSeg]

34. That is very possible

He got in trouble for not reporting winnings over $10,000 on numerous occasions. Meanwhile, his casinos suffered from mismanagement and Trump's reckless behavior. Somehow, Trump never thought the rules applied to him.

[MagickMuffin]

6. Too Bad, So SAD, that the "media" didn't investigate before the election

WHY???

One has to wonder as to why they didn't investigate, and now we're all stuck with him and his "smart" business dealings.

[Moostache]

9. But, but....e-mails!!! Won't Somebody PLEASE think of the e-mails?!?!?!

[tblue37]

13. K&R for visibility. nt

[underpants]

16. Money laundering- that's where this whole is headed

[cilla4progress]

21. Sure

hope so

[C Moon]

17. This is probably why few of these politicians seem too concerned about being traitors...

it's been going on for so long.
Fuck em!

[BumRushDaShow]

18. I hope they look at his other properties in AC over the years

when he was actively owning them like what was initially the "Trump Castle"-

["Hilton Hotels, which has been girding for a second attempt to win a casino license from New Jersey regulators, said Thursday that it is negotiating to sell its nearly completed, $300-million Atlantic City hotel-gambling complex to New York developer-sportsman Donald Trump.

The Los Angeles-based hotel firm, which on a second front has been busy erecting defenses against a potential takeover move, indicated that prospects are good for making the sale at a "clear, short-term profit." Although Hilton said it will continue to seek a New Jersey casino license, it noted that the potential sale would be a "prudent" alternative to the costly, time-consuming process.

Casino regulators denied Hilton a license Feb. 28 but later granted it a rehearing, set to begin April 29. In opposing the license, commissioners had criticized Hilton's 13-year association with Sidney Korshak, a labor lawyer described by the U.S. Justice Department as "a senior adviser to organized crime groups in California, Chicago, Las Vegas and New York."

Trump, already a partner in another new hotel-casino on the Boardwalk, confirmed Thursday that he has made an all-cash offer to Hilton. Neither he nor Hilton disclosed details of the offer.

http://articles.latimes.com/1985-04-19/business/fi-15078_1_atlantic-city-hotel"]

then "Trump Marina", and after he sold it 6 years ago, now the "Gold Nugget" -

["Trump Marina was the weakest of the three casinos owned by Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. It lost nearly $2.3 million in the first quarter of this year and was $8.3 million in the red for all of 2010. Analysts had predicted Trump Marina would have likely closed if Landry’s had not rescued it.

Landry’s was able to scoop up the casino at just a fraction of the $316 million sale price that a would-be buyer nearly paid in 2008, before the recession sent Atlantic City real estate plunging in value. The shaky economy and competition from Pennsylvania’s casinos have driven down Atlantic City’s gaming revenue four years in a row.

Linda M. Kassekert, chair of the Casino Control Commission, said Trump Marina’s sale will be pivotal for reinvigorating the Atlantic City market. She called the property’s rebranding “a stunning transformation.”

“The rebranding of Trump Marina to Golden Nugget will help regain the property’s niche as a destination luxury casino resort,” Kassekert said. “With the combination of additional marketing and an overhaul of the property to a recognized brand, Mr. Fertitta will redefine the property for the new generation of Atlantic City patrons.”

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/top_three/trump-marina-becomes-golden-nugget-today-new-owner-to-give/article_3e92c33c-8559-11e0-84df-001cc4c002e0.html]

The above property had originally been denied a gaming license due to Hilton's association with "the mob" and if anyone thinks that "the mob" sudden disappeared when Drumpf bought it back in the mid-80s (when gambling was legalized in Jersey), I have that bridge to sell ya!

[BarbD]

22. The devil is in the details

Like we finally got Capone with tax evasion, Trump will go down with money laundering.

[Ken Burch]

23. That explains why he didn't care that the casinos always LOST money.

(btw...isn't it fairly difficult to lose money running casinos?)

[WinkyDink]

26. NOT when the goal is to start legit, loot, launder, and then leave. BASIC MOB 101.

[WinkyDink]

24. Been saying this. Trump has been in with the Russian Mob FOR MANY DECADES, FGS.

[enid602]

31. Sarcasm

I sure am glad Comey told tRump 3 (three) times that he's not under investigation.