Up next on the tax fraud trial front: Michael Cohen

Federal authorities investigating whether President Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer, Michael D. Cohen, committed bank and tax fraud have zeroed in on well over $20 million in loans obtained by taxi businesses that he and his family own.

[...]

Investigators are also examining whether Mr. Cohen violated campaign finance or other laws by helping to arrange financial deals to secure the silence of women who said they had affairs with Mr. Trump. The inquiry has entered the final stage and prosecutors are considering filing charges by the end of August, two of the people said.

[...]

The bank loans under scrutiny [...] came from two financial institutions in the New York region that have catered to the taxi industry, Sterling National Bank and the Melrose Credit Union.

[...]

Federal investigators in New York are seeking to determine whether Mr. Cohen misrepresented the value of his assets to obtain the loans, which exceed $20 million.

They are also examining how he handled the income from his taxi medallions and whether he failed to report it to the Internal Revenue Service.


[...]

There is no indication that either bank suffered a loss as a result of the loans or that Mr. Cohen missed payments, which are ordinarily important aspects in a bank fraud case. While bank fraud without a loss is rarely charged on its own, it is sometimes charged in conjunction with other crimes, which may be what happens in Mr. Cohen’s case.
  NYT

But, wait just a minute. Maybe it wasn't bank fraud on his own. Maybe it was bank fraud with the help of the bankers who approved the loans.

Publicly filed financing statements indicate that Mr. Cohen used 32 taxi medallions as collateral for the Sterling loans. The medallions were then valued at more than $1 million each, and generated more than $1 million a year in income.

The loans were made to 16 separate companies controlled by Mr. Cohen and his family, each company owning two taxi medallions, the person who reviewed the transactions said. Mr. Cohen and his wife also personally guaranteed the loans, according to the filings.

Let's have a look at the names of some of Cohen's taxi companies, shall we?

Are those legitimate taxis?  I'd like to see their cabs.

And this bit from another NYT article.

Since 2014, Mr. Cohen’s companies have been falling behind on taxes. Over all, his taxi businesses in New York and Chicago owe more than $375,000 for a variety of tax, insurance and inspection problems, according to records. Fourteen of his 54 cabs were suspended.

[...]

But even as the industry has buckled, Mr. Cohen has continued to use his medallions as collateral to borrow money. In December 2014, with his medallions worth $35 million, he took out loans totaling at least $20 million from Sterling National Bank and Melrose Credit Union, according to a banker who reviewed the transactions. (Documents related to both lenders were among the materials sought by federal prosecutors in their search warrants.)

[...]

On April 24, Mr. Cohen refinanced all 16 of his taxi company medallion loans. The transactions, with Sterling National Bank, appeared to extend the due dates on the loans by four years, according to public filings on the refinanced loans.

  NYT

Why are they loaning him that much money on failing businesses that are being suspended?

It was unclear what Mr. Cohen has done with all the money he has borrowed in recent years. But he received some of the funds around the time that he and his father-in-law, Mr. Shusterman, lent a combined $26 million to a Ukrainian immigrant and taxi-fleet operator named Semyon Shtayner, real estate records show.

The transactions were unusual: Mr. Shtayner has had nearly $1.7 million in judgments and liens against him over the years, yet Mr. Cohen made large loans backed by collateral that appears to be worth less than the value of the loans.

Since 2012, Mr. Cohen has lent $6 million to Mr. Shtayner, whose family owns Chicago Medallion Management Corporation, which manages more than 300 cabs in that city — including those owned by Mr. Cohen.

Cohen is borrowing money from Sterling while loaning money to Shtayner?

One witness who could provide evidence about the possible bank and tax fraud is Evgeny Freidman, Mr. Cohen’s longtime friend and former business associate who began cooperating with federal prosecutors this spring.

Mr. Freidman, known as the Taxi King for his once vast and longtime holdings in that industry, managed taxi medallions owned by Mr. Cohen and his family between 2012 and 2018. In 2016, a federal judge found that Mr. Freidman, a lawyer who was disbarred earlier this year, had transferred more than $60 million into offshore trusts to avoid paying debts. New York City regulators have barred him from continuing to manage medallions.

Mr. Freidman was facing up to 25 years in prison in an unrelated state fraud case in Albany involving his taxi business. But he struck a deal with state prosecutors under which he avoided prison in return for cooperating with federal authorities investigating Mr. Cohen.
  NYT

It's hard to find a crook who won't turn on you when he gets busted any more.

“This is the type of person you’d see most bankers steer clear of,” said Ben Berzin, a retired executive vice president and senior credit officer at PNC Bank who clashed with Mr. Trump in the early 1990s over loans to the future president’s troubled Atlantic City casinos. The speed with which Mr. Cohen successfully flipped real estate stands out, Mr. Berzin said. “You have to ask what’s going on.”

  NYT

If you want some background on Cohen's life as a Russian mob-linked figure in various fraudulent enterprises, including his dealings in the taxi industry, check out this New York Times article referenced above. There's some interesting shit in there. I have no doubt that Trump himself is guilty of tax fraud.  I wonder if Mueller's Marauders (I think a much better name than 13 Angry Democrats, whoever they are) are working on that.

Wouldn't it be funny if, in the end, instead of coming out with Trump himself being involved in the conspiracy to win the election (which, of course he is) and obstruction of justice - the things he keeps shouting about - they slapped him with tax fraud, bank fraud, and mob affiliation?  His acolytes don't care if he's in Russia's pocket, but they might get a real shock if he's convicted of simply being a mobbed-up criminal.  Then again, maybe not.  As long as he's a racist and a sexist, he's their man.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.