To Get to the Truth of Trump, Follow the Money
People tend to forget this history. These are the waters Trump swims in.
That explains recent allegations related to his 2016 presidential bid that he took an illegal $10 million campaign donation from Egypt through back-channel money pipes.
And it explains why Truth Social has a stock-purchase pact with a secretive Cayman Islands fund [who’s investors are unknown] that promises to deliver up to $2.5 billion to the social media platform’s parent company, Trump Media & Technology, majority owned by Trump [65%]. Never mind that Truth Social is losing money and has anemic revenue that is a tiny, tiny fraction of $2.5 billion.
And it explains why Trump’s past career in the casino business is fraught with similar allegations, and the occasional investigation and slap on the wrist.
There’s no reason the still-planned cash infusion from Cayman Island investors into Truth Social’s parent company, for example, couldn’t be used for political purposes in this election cycle. Such as promoting Trump’s presidential bid.
Trump Media [with Truth Social as its primary platform currently] is a private company not bound by campaign advertising rules. It’s not a PAC. It can place ads where it wants, publish what it wants, or launch new media platforms or projects, like any other media company protected by the First Amendment.
Who’s funding those efforts and through what channels could be an issue for Trump if it’s ever investigated. Good luck on that one with the current short window to the election and the political press seemingly lost in space.
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A 2024 report in The Guardian points out the following problem with respect to the Cayman Islands, despite the tax haven’s efforts to promote more transparency:
Nearly 40% of dirty money is laundered in London and UK crown dependencies
Deputy foreign secretary urges Cayman and British Virgin Islands to implement UK law requiring public registers of funds
…. Nearly 40% of the dirty money in the world is going through the City of London and other crown dependencies, the UK’s deputy foreign secretary has said.
Andrew Mitchell added the crown dependencies and overseas territories will face fresh demands from the Foreign Office to comply with UK laws setting up public registers of beneficial share ownership.
Since legislation was passed in the House of Commons in 2016 the UK has faced prevarication from overseas territories which are reluctant to set up public registers that disclose the ultimate owners of funds in tax havens.
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From a 2016 article I wrote for Narco News about Trump’s casino operations:
Candidate Donald Trump Violated U.S. Money Laundering Laws Repeatedly
Federal law enforcers fined gaming company more than $10 million for leaving “financial system unacceptably exposed” to criminal activity
…Republican presidential contender Donald Trump has billed himself as a law-and-order candidate and even claims his opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, should not be allowed to run for high office because of her alleged past crimes — although she had never been indicted, much less convicted of a crime. [Trump, of course, since the 2016 election has has been convicted of multiple felonies.]
Trump, as an owner and a top executive overseeing Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, however, flouted U.S. money laundering laws for years, contributing to a decision last year by the federal Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, to fine the casino $10 million for “willful and repeated violations” of U.S. law. Those violations involved transgressions of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA, also known as the Currency and Foreign Transaction Reporting Act), which, in part, is designed to prevent money laundering by terrorist groups, corrupt foreign leaders and criminal organizations.
… In fact, one of the more glaring money-laundering threats that played out at the casino under now-presidential candidate Trump’s leadership was the employment of a high-level executive allegedly linked to organized crime. Danny Leung, Trump Taj Mahal’s vice president for marketing from 1990 until early 1993, was identified in 1992 by a Senate subcommittee as “an associate of the 14K Triad,” a Hong Kong-based criminal organization involved in murder, money laundering, extortion and narco-trafficking.
The New York Daily News reported in 1995 that, according to New Jersey regulators, Leung allegedly “flew in 16 Italian organized crime figures from Canada who stole more than $1 million from the [Trump Taj Mahal] casino in a credit scam.” The newspaper also indicated that the incident was “never reported” because Trump didn’t file charges.
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From SEC filings, here are some of the key players in Trump Media, in addition to presidential candidate Donald J Trump:
Donald J. Trump, Jr. [Trump’s son] has been an Executive Vice President at The Trump Organization since September 2001, where he helps oversee the company’s extensive real estate portfolio, media and other business interests around the globe. He is and has been an officer of hundreds of entities related to President Donald J. Trump and The Trump Organization….
Kashyap “Kash” Patel is founder and president of The Kash Foundation, Inc., …. Mr. Patel also currently serves as a national security adviser to President Donald J. Trump as a private citizen and receives payment for such services from Save America PAC. He previously served as the Chief of Staff at the Department of Defense (DOD) from November 2020 to January 2021….
Linda McMahon has over 40 years of business, media, and political leadership experience…. Ms. McMahon helped co-found the World Wrestling Foundation which was later renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (“WWE”), the world’s largest professional wrestling promotion company, where she served as President and later Chief Executive Officer from 1993 until 2009. [Think Hulk Hogan.]…
…The Board consists of seven members … [and] the Board is divided into three classes, Classes I, II and III,
• the Class I directors are Kashyap “Kash” Patel and [attorney] W. Kyle Green….
• the Class II directors are Linda McMahon and Donald J. Trump, Jr….
