Federal Judge Retires to End Inquiry Into Her Tax Fraud with the President of the United States
Just another day in the ol’ U.S. of A.:
President Trump’s older sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, has retired as a federal appellate judge, ending an investigation into whether she violated judicial conduct rules by participating in fraudulent tax schemes with her siblings.
The court inquiry stemmed from complaints filed last October, after an investigation by The New York Times found that the Trumps had engaged in dubious tax schemes during the 1990s, including instances of outright fraud, that greatly increased the inherited wealth of Mr. Trump and his siblings. Judge Barry not only benefited financially from most of those tax schemes, The Times found; she was also in a position to influence the actions taken by her family.
Judge Barry, now 82, has not heard cases in more than two years but was still listed as an inactive senior judge, one step short of full retirement. In a letter dated Feb. 1, a court official notified the four individuals who had filed the complaints that the investigation was “receiving the full attention” of a judicial conduct council. Ten days later, Judge Barry filed her retirement papers.
The status change rendered the investigation moot, since retired judges are not subject to the conduct rules.
I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.
And I’m sure that people who would normally see such a “coincidence” as odd will now argue that it’s a coincidence with a straight face.
So what did she do?
Judge Barry had been a co-owner of a shell company — All County Building Supply & Maintenance — created by the family to siphon cash from their father’s empire by marking up purchases already made by his employees, The Times investigation found. Judge Barry, her siblings and a cousin split the markup, free of gift and estate taxes, which at the time were levied at a much higher rate than income taxes.
Just your standard tax fraud that Trump apologists will claim, without any knowledge or research, was probably legal at the time. And then there’s the Trump card (SWIDT?): she’s rich and the IRS didn’t prosecute her for years, so, you know, that totally means she’s probably innocent.
The family also used the padded invoices to justify higher rent increases in rent-regulated buildings, artificially inflating the rents of thousands of tenants. Former prosecutors told The Times that if the authorities had discovered at the time how the Trumps were using All County, their actions would have warranted a criminal investigation for defrauding tenants, tax fraud and filing false documents.
B-b-but the IRS always catches everyone right away!!!!1!
Similarly, Judge Barry benefited from the gross undervaluation of her father’s properties when she and her siblings took ownership of them through a trust, sparing them from paying tens of millions of dollars in taxes, The Times found. For years, she attended regular briefings at her brother’s offices in Trump Tower to hear updates on the real estate portfolio and to collect her share of the profits. When the siblings sold off their father’s empire, between 2004 and 2006, her share of the windfall was $182.5 million, The Times found.
I truly believe that if Obama or Hillary Clinton were accused of the same thing, the people who defend Trump on charges of tax fraud would make the same arguments to defend Obama or Hillary.
[Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.]
Yup, nothing to see here. It will be a one-day story. That’s what happens when there are insane atrocities day after day after day after day.
Patterico (115b1f) — 4/10/2019 @ 8:15 pmMaybe Barr should look into it, but I hear he’s occupied with some “unauthorized surveillance” stuff, whatever that is. Nothing to see there, apparently.
Munroe (111b6a) — 4/10/2019 @ 8:38 pmThe stuff that he said “I’m not suggesting it wasn’t adequately predicated”?
Nothing to see there indeed! Except for partisan hacks who don’t listen to what the guy actually said.
Patterico (115b1f) — 4/10/2019 @ 8:54 pmAs for the notion that “spying” occurred, I’d like to know what he’s talking about, but he won’t say.
A FISA warrant on Carter Page obtained after he left the campaign?
Stefan Halper? Because, remember, Trump told Comey that if people were working with the Russians on his campaign, he wanted Comey to investigate that. And any American who’s not a partisan hack should want it too.
Now back to the topic of the post you derailed, or I ban you.
Patterico (115b1f) — 4/10/2019 @ 8:56 pmAnyone who retires at 82 must’ve just gotten into some serious dough from a dead relative.
Munroe (589f00) — 4/10/2019 @ 9:03 pm5… now that’s pretty funny!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 4/10/2019 @ 9:06 pmFoxes guarding the henhouse:
nk (dbc370) — 4/10/2019 @ 9:06 pmFirst you get the money. Then you get the power. I wonder how much she paid Clinton for the Third Circuit appointment.
nk (dbc370) — 4/10/2019 @ 9:08 pmJ.B. Pritzker, our current gobernator, is a second generation trust fund baby worth at least $3.5 billion not counting his Cayman Islands accounts. He paid $172 million into his own campaign for a $178,000 a year job. And we all know that Michael Bloomberg was Mayor of New York for eight years because he just couldn’t make ends meet on a measly $30 billion.
nk (dbc370) — 4/10/2019 @ 9:15 pmAnd of course, it was the $400,000 a year salary that made Trump want to be President.
nk (dbc370) — 4/10/2019 @ 9:18 pmShaking my head.
nk (dbc370) — 4/10/2019 @ 9:19 pmMaybe Bubba Bill was doing a favor for his golfing pal Donnie.
A similar thing happened with Kavanaugh. I suspect that the complaints originated with do-gooder Resisters(tm), and that the judicial conduct folks would be quite happy to close the file.
There’s also the question of how much involvement she had with the various frauds. Also, the aspect she was most directly involved with, the real estate undervaluations, sounds like tax avoidance, therefore legal.
Kishnevi (bb4469) — 4/10/2019 @ 9:21 pmAs I recall, Hillary was also “fully exonerated” by the FBI and should now be able live her life in her angel-like innocence. That’s how that works, right?
Nic (896fdf) — 4/10/2019 @ 9:26 pmI have heretofore given Senior Judge Barry the benefit of the doubt, presuming that she was blessed to be able to claim status in the Trump family as an uncommonly rare white sheep. She has a long history of public service on the bench, generally with neither controversy nor publicity, until when pressed by a reporter early in the primary season to give an example of someone whom he might pick for the SCOTUS, Trump gave her name.
This was roughly the same size gaffe Trump had made when he took a guess at what he thought a pro-life person would say, and told a reporter that women should be criminally punished for having abortions. These were not trick questions. These questions, especially the one about the SCOTUS appointments, were entirely predictable and conventional and proper. But Trump’s answers instantly revealed his profound lack of seriousness, capacity, and preparation for high office.
In fact, by the time Trump dropped his sister’s name as an example of the kind of Justice he might nominate, she — as his elder sister, mind you — was already too old to effectively waste a comparatively rare SCOTUS pick upon. That made her an unserious suggestion regardless of her individual merit.
Our host wrote, quoting the linked NYT article:
I doubt that it is a coincidence. Some observers might also argue that there’s perhaps an implication that the resignation is an indication of guilty knowledge — a near self-incrimination by Judge Barry, tantamount to an admission that she’d have faced reprimand or punishment if the complaints were allowed to proceed.
I do not think that is a fair implication at all. Judge Barry is, as her disclosure forms have long indicated, a wealthy woman who doesn’t need a continuing income. It is entirely possible — and entirely consistent with the Times’ reporting, at least as excerpted here by our host — that her role in the reported investment was entirely passive and that she had neither knowledge of or responsibility for any tax improprieties by others in her family. If so, I assess her risk of any adverse finding from this inquiry to have been quite low.
The quoted letter from “court officials” about “full attention” — that sounds to me like a clerk’s acknowledgement of filing. Ten days is just about the right amount of time for the paperwork to have made its way to Judge Barry for her initial response, before which no other judges are possibly going to have begun to make any investigation, much less draw conclusions.
Or it may be that she’s up to her elbows in Trump family business and tax shenanigans, and she’s the legal mastermind who’s been masterminding things by pulling Michael Cohen’s strings through burner cellphones.
But I think I’m going to continue giving her a few more benefits of the doubt. It’s very hard not to feel sorry for anyone who has to deal closely with Donald Trump, much less someone from within his own family.
Beldar (fa637a) — 4/10/2019 @ 9:28 pmI don’t understand why everyone seems perfectly happy to be paying their money to make up for the Trumps “perfectly legal” “tax avoidance” schemes.
Nic (896fdf) — 4/10/2019 @ 9:28 pmIn general, clerks of the U.S. Courts of Appeals don’t write chatty letters to anyone outside the courts, including litigants and, especially (as here), ethics complaintants.
“Oh, wow, you really had some zingers in your complaint, you should have seen how Judge ____ fussed and fumed when he was reading what you said about Judge Barry! Y’all are ahead, good news for your side coming any day now. These judges are woke and fully engaged!”
No.
Beldar (fa637a) — 4/10/2019 @ 9:34 pmTo clarify my #14: The inference I draw from her resignation is that its timing was indeed prompted by this complaint, but that she resigned rather than endure the trouble and aggravation of having to expend the time and effort necessary to prepare a response, which would in turn surely require her to deal with Trump and his advisers.
Beldar (fa637a) — 4/10/2019 @ 9:39 pmThere’s always that ‘pardon-at-the-ready’ in brother’s back pocket for 82-year-old-sis… and for himself if he survives through Term Two.
“It’s good to be the King.’ – King Louis XVI [Mel Brooks] ‘History Of The World, Part 1’ 1981
DCSCA (797bc0) — 4/10/2019 @ 9:45 pmI very much doubt it is a coincidence, and a federal judge has to be squeaky clean. Alex Kozinski retired for much, much less. There would not have been any criminal charges, of course — too long ago — but her position, was difficult at best. Given that she was on senior status, there wasn’t much reason to fight.
This isn’t something to cheer about, though. The “politics of personal destruction” has been going on far too long, and personal destruction by proxy is taking it to the next level. The judge was targeted by people who hate Trump, and intended to hurt him by hurting his sister. It may not deter Trump himself, but it might deter the next guy: “Screw with us and your sister gets it!”
Maybe they can get Barron Trump for something. He probably has a trust fund they can attack.
Kevin M (21ca15) — 4/10/2019 @ 9:54 pmTwo links for your consideration:
Treasury misses congressional deadline for turning over Trump’s tax returns:
28 U.S. Code § 1361. Action to compel an officer of the United States to perform his duty:
The predecessor of this statute was the basis for the filing of Marbury v. Madison (1803).
Beldar (fa637a) — 4/10/2019 @ 9:54 pmThat video is awesome. You laugh right away and then you think it’s over but it’s just a pause, or a loop, and it starts again. And it’s so identifiable. I see things all the time and this is my inner monologue.
frosty48 (6226c1) — 4/10/2019 @ 9:56 pmJust your standard tax fraud that Trump apologists will claim, without any knowledge or research, was probably legal at the time.
It’s legal now. Apple does it every chance it gets.
Kevin M (21ca15) — 4/10/2019 @ 9:56 pm‘pardon-at-the-ready’
For what? Even if she was guilty as sin, statutes of limitations would have long since kicked in. She might have faced action by her peers, but that isn’t something Trump could pardon.
Kevin M (21ca15) — 4/10/2019 @ 10:05 pmIt will be interesting to see what the courts do about the tax request. From the point of view of ANY President, the request must be denied. There are several immunities that the courts have granted the President, and several that have been denied.
One question is whether ad hoc demands for private files will disrupt
hisa President’s ability to perform his job. Clinton was unable to prevent the Paula Jones suit from proceeding, and this seems a lesser concern.OTOH, if the committee can be shown to have political motivation, unrelated to its established duties or professed reasons for the request, Trump might prevail.
The Court might also split the baby, allowing the request but enjoining the committee, or Congress, from releasing the information and establishing rules for viewing the material.
Kevin M (21ca15) — 4/10/2019 @ 10:20 pmPutting my guessing cap on: (1) Ms. Trump-Barry was expecting this would happen, and she had her exit strategy all mapped out; (2) she’s thanking her lucky stars that she stayed on as a judge for as long as she did.
Paul Montagu (7968e9) — 4/10/2019 @ 10:32 pm@23. For whatever. Sis has pull in high places. They live in the now; that family is gonna outrun justice to the grave. Trump Luck is in the air; buy that lottery ticket.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 4/10/2019 @ 11:03 pmThere’s also the question of how much involvement she had with the various frauds. Also, the aspect she was most directly involved with, the real estate undervaluations, sounds like tax avoidance, therefore legal.
Kishnevi (bb4469) — 4/10/2019 @ 9:21 pm
It’s weird how every car I ever bought from a private seller was for $500. That’s what the bill of sale said anyway.
Pinandpuller (7b0c43) — 4/11/2019 @ 1:25 amThis was roughly the same size gaffe Trump had made when he took a guess at what he thought a pro-life person would say, and told a reporter that women should be criminally punished for having abortions. These were not trick questions. These questions, especially the one about the SCOTUS appointments, were entirely predictable and conventional and proper. But Trump’s answers instantly revealed his profound lack of seriousness, capacity, and preparation for high office.
Hey Mr Beldar, funny you should say that:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/texas-lawmakers-consider-death-penalty-women-who-get-abortions-n993171
Pinandpuller (7b0c43) — 4/11/2019 @ 1:30 amAloha Pindandpuller –
mg (8cbc69) — 4/11/2019 @ 3:34 amfrom C.C.
OT: Breaking- Ecuador withdraws asylum; Brits arrest Assange.
Trump Luck is in the air; buy that lottery ticket, kids.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 4/11/2019 @ 3:35 am@8/9/10 – That goes to the genesis of my old thesis a way back in the day; why these guys would want the gigs when arguably, given their wealth and status, they could wield more influence, legislative or otherwise, from outside the arena than in it. Back in the mid-70’s Heinz, heir to the pickle and ketchup empire, blew on average about $20-$25 [ in 1975 dollars] per vote to win a PA senate seat. At that time that was considered quite a lot. Nobody was sure why– he was wealthy and highly influential as it was. Some thought he was just bored and wanted to do something new. But at the time it was considered quite a pricey power trip for a U.S. Senate seat. Then he was killed in a chopper crash and Kerry married his widow.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 4/11/2019 @ 4:07 am“Behind every great fortune there is a crime.” The quote is from Balzac and Mario Puzo used it as the preface to The Godfather. But I would say this is more like the Prizzi Family of Richard Condon, with Maryanne as the second son (played by Robert Loggia in the movie) who became a high-powered lawyer, changed his name to Price, and gave the family legitimacy and protection through his connections with the bluebloods.
“Have another cookie, my dear.”
nk (dbc370) — 4/11/2019 @ 5:58 amLike when Mueller investigates Deutsche bank who is represented by his firm, or his personal representation for first tier money launderer banamex or handling any matter related to his other client facebook.
Narciso (2de9c6) — 4/11/2019 @ 6:03 amThe Chinese hold the whip hand over cerna, just like the Europeans love their huawei.
Narciso (2de9c6) — 4/11/2019 @ 6:05 amI never saw that film, loggia as Edward price, it was hard enough when he played the legionnaire turned smuggler on the series premiere of magnum.
Narciso (2de9c6) — 4/11/2019 @ 6:07 amMaybe John Kerry’s vietnamese friends arranged it:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/byron-york-barr-is-right-spying-on-trump-campaign-did-occur
Narciso (2de9c6) — 4/11/2019 @ 6:13 amI will grant you that the story being from the NYT is the pot calling the kettle black. The Ochs-Sulzberger family’s stock manipulations and loan machinations to keep control of the NYT would make for a law school course. Two semesters.
nk (dbc370) — 4/11/2019 @ 6:15 amAnd they are owned LOcke stock and barrel by the respectable oligarch Carlos slims
Narciso (2de9c6) — 4/11/2019 @ 6:22 amDid neither the dog trainer or Carlos slim ever really call out the attack on a officer of the law, kosinski was the last sensible voice on the 9th circus, that’s why the soft porn novelist went in for the kill.
Narciso (2de9c6) — 4/11/2019 @ 6:25 amAnd they are owned LOcke stock and barrel by the respectable oligarch Carlos slims
No, they are not. They have complete control of the company with only 10% of the equity due to their stock classifications and loan structures including the one with Slim. Going with the theme of a nouveau riche getting an in with the old elite, I would venture that Slim’s involvement was primarily so that he would be invited to their cocktail parties. 😉
nk (dbc370) — 4/11/2019 @ 6:33 amIt’s an old story. Granddaddy was a brothel keeper in the Yukon, granddaughter is a Court of Appeals judge. Another granddaddy is a pirate and mercenary with Simon Bolivar in South America, granddaughter is the second American-born Saint. It’s what Made America Great Ago.
nk (dbc370) — 4/11/2019 @ 6:40 amI’m entitled to license, if the new York times had been sold in the 20s, maybe the holocaust might have been properly reported the firing squads in la cabana might nag have happened diem would have survived, the shah would have yieded to a sane transition. Alt history imho.
narciso (d1f714) — 4/11/2019 @ 6:40 amWe know how the game is played:
https://thefederalist.com/2019/04/11/6-criminal-referrals-the-doj-is-ignoring-because-the-perpetrators-are-democrats/
narciso (d1f714) — 4/11/2019 @ 6:45 amFdrs father traded opium, and did William welds esteemed forebearers, maybe that’s why he cut bulger a break.
narciso (d1f714) — 4/11/2019 @ 7:18 amWe’ll see how our lapdog AG handles Julian “I love Wikileaks!” Assange.
Paul Montagu (7968e9) — 4/11/2019 @ 7:39 amHe will prosecute him easily for leaking classified info, this ones who leaked the paradise and Panama papers not so much. Its nice you indulge bill Ayers and Carl oglesbys slurs, second look at derrick bell?
narciso (d1f714) — 4/11/2019 @ 7:49 amYou’re wrong, narc. The slurs are all mine, and with good reason.
Paul Montagu (7968e9) — 4/11/2019 @ 8:17 amI don’t seem to remember the same gnashing of teeth when Bubba resigned from the Arkansas bar after something about perjury.
But here we are. Wanting to be so pure, so above it all, we’ve agreed to be part of the bayonetting of an 82 y/o judge, who plainly resigned rather than be dragged thru ancient history in response to plainly partisan complaints.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (5e0a82) — 4/11/2019 @ 12:02 pmTrumps sister is 82 and we have no idea as to her physical, mental and emotional condition.
Maybe she didn’t want to deal with it.
I think you have changed quite a bit. To me, since the last Presidential election cycle you’ve periodically regressed into the guy who carried on a pointless fight with Goldstein, angry, cutting, bitter and although I don’t like it when you snap at me personally, I do like you. I see you as a deeply principled, very intelligent man who loves his family, his country. I value your perspectives that counterbalance my own and I wouldn’t be here if my point was just to argue with you, and me arguing with you is pointless anyway because you argue for a living and you are very very good at it. You’ve “destroyed” arguments of lesser talent and my response has been to treat you like anyone else who punches down in weight and then runs around the ring, but I still admire the talent.
(Side note: your friend DRJ knows how to put on the velvet glove and if she feels the need to punch down she can strip an argument and leave you with a little bit of your dignity. We can all take a lesson)
Although I may not have liked how you acted in some of those moments, I’ve always seen you as a good guy who, like everybody, has some irritating flaws. I respect you. When commenters over at instapundit were nasty about you, I defended you… not to suck up, but because they were not at all understanding of who I believe you really are. I buy Amazon stuff through your site… not to suck up, but to say thank you for being the host.
I’m of the impression that you do not like anything about me at all, and barely tolerate me. Part of that was well earned in years past when I was an emotionally unstable, self medicating asshole. It reminds me of that old story from AA where the guy goes up to the door to make amends and the woman opens the door and slams it in his face. He knocks again and she opens the door and threatens to call the police. He tells her he is there to apologize and make amends for his behavior and how he hurt her. She yells: “maybe you fucking shouldn’t have fucking oughta did it then” and slams the door..
Always sounded fair to me. So I get it when some people don’t like me. I can’t fix it, can just try to do the next right thing now… and in relationships and interpersonal relationships that isn’t as easy as it sounds…. particularly when the subject is politics and Trump.
All that said, Trump and his flaws make for poor mixed company dinner table conversation so it seems we all come into your library to drink whiskey or apple juice and smoke cigars or not and we squabble there so as not to traumatize the kids.
steveg (e7a56b) — 4/11/2019 @ 12:11 pmI’m posting this with a smile on my face, poking fun at you by way over exaggerating, by going over the top.
Its my way of saying… hey, get back to earth.
https://reason.com/blog/2019/04/10/prosecutors-charge-man-for-abandoning-pe
steveg (e7a56b) — 4/11/2019 @ 12:16 pmFormer prosecutors told The Times that if the authorities had discovered at the time how the Trumps were using All County, their actions would have warranted a criminal investigation for defrauding tenants, tax fraud and filing false documents.
I think this is because transactions can be declared to be fictional, if they were done only for tax purposes.
This is an extrenmely difficult issue to catch. On paper, everything is fine. The problem is, that in certain cases, paper is not enough.
The problem, from a tax standpoint, would be that All County Building Supply & Maintenance had no business reason to exist. (except maybe made-up untrue ones)
The issue can be somewhat subtle. There’s no red flag telling people they are crossing a line. And the IRS is probably loathe to accuse. It could be a matter of judgment. People do transactions for tax purposes all the time, and it’s not held to be fraud. So when does tax fraud occur?
I think only the most minimal independent business reason is enough to render all this paperwork legal. In the case of All County Building Supply & Maintenance, the extra charge to the tenants, unfair as it might be, might possibly be regarded enough of a business reason to make this legal, and itself not fraud, so long as the price charged the tenants was not above market value. and the different ownership might also have a justification, or not need to be justified.
The lawyers and accountants working for Fred Trump must have had some justification in mind – at least enough maybe to escape repercussions themselves. While there can be, snd are, lawyers and accountants who do things that haven’t got a shred of a legal defense, relying only on secrecy, that’s probably a deliberate decision that someone makes, and those who have many clients wouldn’t readily want to do that.
Sammy Finkelman (30b6b6) — 4/11/2019 @ 12:37 pmNo montagu you’re simply mistaken,
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Beldar (fa637a) — 4/12/2019 @ 9:49 amWow, I thought libertarians HATE HATE HATED estate taxes, rent control, and expansively interpreted prosecution laws to secure them. Why are they suddenly willing to accept government real estate valuation as gospel? Why are they trying to undermine an All-American John Galt by taking the government and media’s claims at face value? And why do none of these ‘former prosecutors’ use their real names in a public article?
Could it be…GASP!? that the libertarian pose was just a pose all along, that dissolves into nothingness when petty personal hatreds for those who actually embody libertarian ideals rear their ugly head?
“I truly believe that if Obama or Hillary Clinton were accused of the same thing, the people who defend Trump on charges of tax fraud would make the same arguments to defend Obama or Hillary.”
Well, their LAWYERS certainly would! Why come up with a new argument when you can invoke a precedent and turn your brain off?
Yes, the Republicans are dumb, but the actual reason they didn’t go after Clinton hard for bribery is far too many of them take bribes themselves. If they went after Clinton for his bribes from China and Indonesia, there was plenty of dirt for Justice to dig up on them, and they knew it (it’s why they thought they could get him on blatant perjury, but Clinton made it about sex, and none of them were clean). Clinton’s genius was he just went bigger and bolder with the stuff everybody else did. You think Hillary’s the only pol who got rich off insider trading? Bill’s the only one who got foreign dollars laundered into it? Ha!
Trump is what America deserves, and you will continue to get him until you learn your lesson. It seems, sadly, that those lessons still refuse to take.
Jerrod (088751) — 4/12/2019 @ 8:49 pm