A previously unknown focus of an I.R.S. audit is a dubious accounting maneuver that effectively meant taking the same write-offs twice on a Chicago skyscraper.

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  • @disguy_ovahea
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    5 months ago

    This is my favorite bit.

    With sales lagging far behind projections, he claimed that his investment in the condo-hotel tower met the tax code definition of “worthless,” because his debt on the project meant he would never see a profit.

    It’s got his name all over it.

  • Optional
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    445 months ago

    Oh please, this is just more fake news by the lying liberal media designed to make a demented rapist and convicted fraud seem like some sort of dishonest person. Woke!

  • @LilDumpy
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    305 months ago

    The first write-off came on Mr. Trump’s tax return for 2008. With sales lagging far behind projections, he claimed that his investment in the condo-hotel tower met the tax code definition of “worthless,” because his debt on the project meant he would never see a profit. That move resulted in Mr. Trump reporting losses as high as $651 million for the year, The Times and ProPublica found. There is no indication the I.R.S. challenged that initial claim, though that lack of scrutiny surprised tax experts consulted for this article. But in 2010, Mr. Trump and his tax advisers sought to extract further benefits from the Chicago project, executing a maneuver that would draw years of inquiry from the I.R.S. First, he shifted the company that owned the tower into a new partnership. Because he controlled both companies, it was like moving coins from one pocket to another. Then he used the shift as justification to declare $168 million in additional losses over the next decade.

  • @[email protected]
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    135 months ago

    If intentional, as it would seem to be, shouldn’t there be jail time too. Or is that inky for people that steal less than a million?

    • FuglyDuck
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      75 months ago

      grifting his base is probably his only profitable business venture at the moment.

      • @dellish
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        35 months ago

        JFC indeed! That questionnaire was vomit-worthy, and the ticker at the bottom showing “recent donations” needs work because they’re repeating the same fake names over and over.

        • @disguy_ovahea
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          25 months ago

          Yeah, it’s gross alright. Did you notice that there’s no way to submit your answers of the multiple choice questions without donation? It baits people to show their conviction to their responses with payment. Despicable.

  • Flying Squid
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    95 months ago

    “Fake news, folks! There are two Trump Towers in Chicago! The Biden crime family doesn’t want you to see the second tower, folks. But it’s there. It’s there. Two, big, beautiful towers in downtown Chicago!”

  • @[email protected]
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    15 months ago

    As a Chicagoan, I can’t wait for the day we pull that god awful name off that building like a Saddam Hussein statue.