I don’t think it’s “fraud”, I just think it doesn’t do anything. Creating a living trust and putting your assets in it, especially real estate, is a good idea. It helps your heirs avoid probate when you pass away.

You can’t really “work for the trust as a trustee” because it’s a revocable trust, meaning the money is still yours. You are the trustee by definition. Paying yourself out of the trust gives you no extra benefits.

You can’t “create an estate” because an estate is what holds your assets after you die. It holds and distributes your assets to your heirs. You will never get anything from your own estate because you’ll be dead.

I have no idea about the “private bank EIN”. You can just apply for an EIN from the IRS if you have a business. It’s just like a SSN but for a business. It confers no extra benefits, unless of course you commit fraud…

So it sounds like these people are just making purchases in the name of a fake business and writing them off their taxes. That’s just normal fraud, and not very clever.