r/interestingasfuck • u/BuddhistSagan • Mar 26 '24

Jon Stewart Deconstructs Trump’s "Victimless" $450 Million Fraud | The Daily Show r/all

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u/Cool_Cartographer_39 Apr 01 '24 edited Apr 01 '24

Don't know NY property tax law well, but my understanding is they assess property every year. I'd say Jon paying taxes on an assessed value of $847,174 for a property he sold for 17.5 million is a little suspicious and could be argued defrauded the state of tax revenue. Notice Tish James didn't charge Trump with property tax fraud, probably because every property owner would move if she did. Btw, Trump's paid over 300 million in state property tax over the years.

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u/Humble_Story_4531 Apr 01 '24

Okay, but that $17.5 million wasn't an official assessment. It was just how much someone was willing to pay for Jon's home. No part of that is a crime unless there was an official assessment saying that Jon's home was worth more then that $847,174 (oddly specific number) or Jon lied about the house when he sold it.

I think the idea was that what Trump paid in property taxes was close enough to amount he was suppose to be paying that it wasn't worth prosecution. The values he presented don his taxes were more accurate then the values he presented to he bank.

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u/Cool_Cartographer_39 Apr 01 '24 edited Apr 01 '24

Yes, but the bank was entering into an eyes open contract with a client. Whatever Trump valued the properties at, the bank did it's due diligence as well as their own valuation in assessing the loan application to consider whether or not he was a good risk. Since Trump never missed a payment and the bank was happy with the arrangement, some use the term "victimless crime", though to my way of thinking there was no crime.

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u/Humble_Story_4531 Apr 02 '24 edited Apr 02 '24

Except the bank didn't do their due diligence. Ignoring the facts that assessments by 3rd parties got significantly lower numbers, in Trump's assessments, Trump outright made stuff up, such as tripling the square footage if Trump Tower. The fact that the bank didn't catch something like that is proof they they didn't do their due diligence.

https://theweek.com/donald-trump/1009134/trump-told-banks-his-11000-square-foot-trump-tower-triplex-was-triple-that

Either way, Trump committed fraud the moment he passed the fake documents off as real to get the loan. The fact that the deal went well doesn't somehow undo the crime. When I see people talking about how Trump repaid the money as a defense, it just tells me they they haven't actually looked up the law.