surprised our resident magas aren't on here telling us how the indictments are all fake since the georgia judge dropped six counts against trump yesterday.
as if he is still not facing 80+ other counts and 115 years in jail.
I think they lack clarity, was the ruling. So the prosecutor can file a superseding indictment and re-include them in the charging documents.
Yeah, the judge found the charges had merit, but lacked specific details and said the submitted charge was too open for exactly which path they were pursuing so the defense would have a hard time mounting their rebuttal based on the numerous options prosecutors could pursue.
So this is the third world banana kangaroo court I’ve been hearing about.
My, my, it sounds so, shall we say, very POOTWHtian? Or is it just more fruit from the poisonous tree? “No russia, Russia, Russia ties.” Sure. But hey, have you heard about Hunter’s laptop?
US firm that paid indicted FBI informant tied to Trump associates, records reveal
Alexander Smirnov was paid $600,000 in 2020 – the same year he allegedly began lying to FBI about Bidens’ role in Ukraine business
An American company that paid the now indicted FBI informant Alexander Smirnov in 2020 is connected to a UK company owned by Trump business associates in Dubai, according to business filings and court documents.
Smirnov is now accused of lying to the FBI about Hunter Biden and his father, President Joe Biden, alleging that they engaged in a bribery scheme with executives at the Ukrainian energy company Burisma. Smirnov’s accounts to the FBI, beginning in 2020, that federal prosecutors now say are fabrications, served as a major justification of the House impeachment investigation into the Bidens.
Republican lawmakers have repeatedly touted Smirnov as a reliable informant, and the chairman of the House oversight committee, James Comer, even threatened to hold FBI director Christopher Wray in contempt unless he “handed over” a June 2020 FBI form with Smirnov’s claims to the committee.
Back in 2020, Smirnov was paid $600,000 by a company called Economic Transformation Technologies (ETT), prosecutors said. That same year, Smirnov began lying to the FBI about the Bidens, according to the indictment.
ETT’s CEO is the American Christopher Condon, who is also one of three shareholders in ETT Investment Holding Limited in London. Other shareholders in the UK include Pakistani American investor Shahal Khan and Farooq Arjomand, a former chairman and current board member of Damac Properties in Dubai who is also listed as an adviser on ETT’s American website.
Last month, Smirnov was charged with lying to the FBI, and is being held without bail. Prosecutors argued he posed a flight risk because of his contacts with Russian officials in the Middle East and access to millions of dollars.
Smirnov’s indictment alleged that the facts in a document, known as a 1023, and other statements made to his FBI handler beginning in 2020 and continuing until December 2023, were factually impossible.
The exact business model of Texas-based ETT is murky. Its mission statement reads in part: “ETT set up the chess board to bring in top notch executives from those sectors to help implement its vision of love and social impact to improve the quality of human existence through the application of ‘new age’ technologies.”
The current CEO, Condon, is a California man who has been involved in several civil lawsuits, including a civil Rico case in 2010 that he won on appeal. Condon’s official biography says he is “a former professional tennis player, financial advisor, and currently is an entrepreneur focused on social-impact projects, public-private partnerships, and creating smart communities that benefit both individuals and governments”.
Condon, Arjomand and Khan registered ETT Investment Holding Limited in the UK on 6 March 2020. Khan, an investor who purchased the Plaza Hotel in 2018, and Arjomand have ties to Donald Trump through Trump associates and Damac, a major Middle East developer that has partnered with Trump for a decade. Arjomand, Khan and Condon owned 34%, 33% and 33% of ETT Investment Holding Limited respectively, according to UK business filings. No other information on the UK company is readily available.
Former Damac chairman Hussain Sajwani is also close to Trump and has been described as his friend in multiple news reports. Trump has called the billionaire a “friend” and a “great man”, and his family “the most beautiful people”.
Sajwani attended Trump’s 2016 inauguration, and Trump’s sons Donald Jr and Eric Trump attended the 2017 ribbon-cutting of the Trump International golf club in Dubai, licensed by Damac in 2014. Sajwani and his family also attended a party in 2017 at Mar-a-Lago. Trump’s sons would go on to attend Sajwani’s daughter’s wedding in 2018.
In 2017 FEC filings, Trump disclosed making up to $5m from the Damac licensing deal, but said he would no longer do personal business deals when he became president. The two continued at least talking business into his presidency, however, according to multiple reports.
“Hussein, Damac, a friend of mine, a great guy. I was offered $2bn to do a deal in Dubai, a number of deals, and I turned it down,” Trump said in 2017.
Arjomand was the vice-chairman of Damac when the Trump International golf club, along with adjoining Trump-branded luxury homes, opened, and he replaced Sajwani as chair in 2021 when Sajwani stepped down to privatize the company.
Khan, who owns Dubai-based Trinity White City Ventures, is a New York native who partnered with New York City developer Kamran Hakim to buy the Plaza Hotel in 2018 for $600m. He was a board member of ETT from 2019 to June 2020, according to his LinkedIn page, appearing in event photographs with Condon in Miami that year.
Khan is involved in a range of business from AI to mining to cybersecurity, according to his official biographies. In 2019, he was one of a dozen Pakistani American business owners invited to meet the then Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan the day before Imran met with Trump and Mike Pompeo, then the secretary of state, in Washington DC. The group was there to discuss the expansion of business in Pakistan.
In 2017, Khan reportedly approached Brad Zackson, dubbed Paul Manafort’s “real-estate fixer”, to help him broker a deal to buy the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan, owned by the Pakistani government via its national airline, for $500m, according to the Real Deal. When the real-estate publication asked Khan about the reports, he denied that Zackson and Manafort, a former Trump campaign chairman, were involved. Khan purchased the Pakistani embassy building in DC in 2022 for $6.8m.
Khan is also CEO of BurTech Acquisition Group, a “blank check company”, or public shell company. Patrick Orlando, listed as a “special adviser” and shareholder of BurTech in 2021, was the CEO and chair of Digital World, another blank check company, from September 2021 to March 2023. When it began a merger with Trump Media & Technology Group in 2021, it was held up by an SEC investigation until given the green light last month.
The finalization of the merger may garner Trump as much as $4bn in shares, and help bolster his finances after his recent civil litigation losses. Orlando has known Trump since at least 2021, according to news reports.
Arjomand and Khan’s relationship is unclear. Arjomand, a former HSBC banker from the United Arab Emirates, also invests in hospitality businesses, including the celebrity Wahlberg brothers’ restaurant chain Wahlburgers, and owns a coffee company called Reborn Coffee.
ETT Investment Holding Limited was dissolved in 2021. Condon and Arjomand also registered a company called Atlas UK Group Limited the same day they registered the UK ETT, now dissolved.
The American ETT, then called Pandora Venture Capital Corp, was first registered in Florida in 2014 by Wisconsin resident Boris Nayflish, according to Florida business filings. Ukrainian American Nayflish is the ex-husband of Smirnov’s current partner, according to a Wall Street Journal report, which also claimed Nayflish stayed close to his ex, Diana Lavrenyuk, and Smirnov after the divorce.
Smirnov, born in Ukraine, lived in Israel before coming to the US in 2006.
Pandora changed its name to Skylab in 2017, then in 2018 Skylab seemed to split from what is now ETT, according to a lawsuit, when Condon first registered ETT websites and appeared on ETT’s Florida filings.
An unnamed former business associate told the Wall Street Journal that the $600,000 payment from ETT to Smirnov was “in exchange for a stake in an Israel-based crypto trading platform, called Bitoftrade, [that] Smirnov was working on launching”.
Calls and emails to Condon, Arjomand, Sajwani and Smirnov’s lawyer, and to Trump’s team, were not returned.
Khan told the Guardian: “I was on the board for a very short period, [and] there was no connection on my part.”
Smirnov is scheduled for a jury trial in April, according to court filings.
surprised our resident magas aren't on here telling us how the indictments are all fake since the georgia judge dropped six counts against trump yesterday.
as if he is still not facing 80+ other counts and 115 years in jail.
A lot of MAGAs these days are busy draining their bank accounts or looking for more funds to give to their orange god.
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
So much winning. Gee, I wonder if Atlanta has another prosecutor who can step in? Sure seems like this case is over.
As alleged, the claims presented a possible financial conflict of interest for the District
Attorney. More importantly, the defense motions and the State’s response created a conflict in the
evidence that could only be resolved through an evidentiary hearing, and one that could not simply
be ignored without endangering a criminally accused’s constitutional right to procedural due
process. After receiving two and a half days of testimony, during which the Defendants were
provided an opportunity to subpoena and introduce whatever relevant and material evidence they
could muster, the Court finds that the Defendants failed to meet their burden of proving that the
District Attorney acquired an actual conflict of interest in this case through her personal
relationship and recurring travels with her lead prosecutor. The other alleged grounds for
disqualification, including forensic misconduct, are also denied. However, the established record
now highlights a significant appearance of impropriety that infects the current structure of the
prosecution team - an appearance that must be removed through the State’s selection of one of two
options. The Defendants’ motions are therefore granted in part.
the Court finds that the evidence did not establish the District Attorney’s receipt
of a material financial benefit as a result of her decision to hire and engage in a romantic relationship with Wade. Simply put, the Defendants have not presented sufficient evidence indicating that the
expenses were not “roughly divided evenly,” or that the District Attorney was, or currently
remains, “greatly and pecuniarily interested” in this prosecution. Nichols v. State, 17 Ga. App. at
606.
In addition - and much more important - the Court finds, based largely on the District
Attorney’s testimony, that the evidence demonstrated that the financial gain flowing from her
relationship with Wade was not a motivating factor on the part of the District Attorney to indict
and prosecute this case.
Without sufficient evidence that the District Attorney acquired a personal stake in the
prosecution, or that her financial arrangements had any impact on the case, the Defendants’ claims
of an actual conflict must be denied.
Ultimately, dismissal of the indictment is not the appropriate remedy to adequately dissipate
the financial cloud of impropriety and potential untruthfulness found here. See Olsen v. State, 302
Ga. 288, 294 (2017) (“Dismissal of an indictment is an extreme sanction, used only sparingly as a
remedy for unlawful government conduct.”) (quoting State v. Lampl, 296 Ga. 892, 896 (2015)).
There has not been a showing that the Defendants’ due process rights have been violated or that
the issues involved prejudiced the Defendants in any way. Nor is disqualification of a constitutional
officer necessary when a less drastic and sufficiently remedial option is available. The Court
therefore concludes that the prosecution of this case cannot proceed until the State selects one of
two options. The District Attorney may choose to step aside, along with the whole of her office,
and refer the prosecution to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council for reassignment. See O.C.G.A. §
15-18-5. Alternatively, SADA Wade can withdraw, allowing the District Attorney, the Defendants,
and the public to move forward without his presence or remuneration distracting from and
potentially compromising the merits of this case.
Whether this case ends in convictions, acquittals, or something in between, the result should
be one that instills confidence in the process. A reasonable observer unburdened by partisan
blinders should believe the law was impartially applied, that those accused of crimes had a fair opportunity to present their defenses, and that any verdict was based on our criminal justice
system’s best efforts at ascertaining the truth. Any distractions that detract from these goals, if
remedial under the law, should be proportionally addressed. After consideration of the record
established on these motions, the Court finds the allegations and evidence legally insufficient to
support a finding of an actual conflict of interest. However, the appearance of impropriety remains
and must be handled as previously outlined before the prosecution can proceed. The Defendants’
motions are therefore granted in part and denied in part.
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Birds of a feather................But sure, vote for the POS.
Trump granted clemency to Medicare fraudsters before vowing to cut entitlement program abuse
In an attempt to clean up comments he made this week about “cutting” entitlement programs, former president Donald Trump has vowed in recent days that he would reduce spending on Social Security and Medicare by targeting waste and fraud in those programs.
However, a review of Trump’s record shows that, in the closing months of his presidency, he used his clemency powers to help several people convicted in major Medicare fraud cases, including commuting the sentence of a man the Justice Department had described as having “orchestrated one of the largest health care fraud schemes in U.S. history.”
In his last year in office, Trump commuted the sentences of at least five people who collectively filed nearly $1.6 billion in fraudulent claims through Medicare or Medicaid.
Trump also granted clemency that year to Daniela Gozes-Wagner, a Houston woman who was sentenced in 2019 to 20 years in prison for helping falsely bill more than $28 million in claims to Medicare and Medicaid for medical tests that either never happened or were unnecessary. Those tests supposedly took place at 28 testing facilities that turned out to be empty offices — and prosecutors said Gozes-Wagner went so far as to hire “seat warmers” at those offices who were instructed to notify her if Medicare investigators arrived.
In December 2020, Trump commuted the sentence of Philip Esformes, who had been convicted in 2019 “for his role in the largest health care fraud scheme ever charged by the Justice Department, involving over $1.3 billion in fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medicaid for services that were not provided, were not medically necessary or were procured through the payment of kickbacks,” the department said.
Esformes was sentenced to 20 years in prison — but was freed after serving about 4½ years, after Trump granted him clemency. The White House noted at the time that, while in prison, Esformes was “devoted to prayer” and “in declining health.” Esformes was photographed hosting and dancing at his daughter’s lavish wedding days later.
In the final days of his presidency, Trump granted clemency to Salomon Melgen, a Florida eye doctor who had been sentenced to 17 years in prison after being convicted for his role in defrauding Medicare out of $42 million; and to John Estin Davis, a Tennessee health-care executive who had been sentenced the year before to 42 months in prison after being convicted for his role in filing over $4.6 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare.
Louis Saccoccio, CEO of the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association, called the Trump clemency orders “disappointing” and noted that the cases were not minor ones and probably took prosecutors a lot of time and resources to investigate.
“These are complicated cases, and usually it will take months if not, in many cases, years — maybe two, three years — to bring these cases to trial,” Saccoccio said. “Obviously, you want to send a message with respect to health-care fraud that it’s not going to be tolerated.”
Saccoccio said that in addition to the financial consequences of Medicare fraud, many cases result in patient harm. Saccoccio cited the case of Melgen, the Florida ophthalmologist, who prosecutors said would perform and bill Medicare for unnecessary injections and laser treatments on his elderly patients after falsely diagnosing them with macular degeneration.
Trump’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump has said for years that he will protect the popular programs, breaking with conservatives who argue that the United States should reduce benefits to keep the programs financially solvent.
Before the 2022 midterm elections, for instance, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) publicly unveiled a plan that would have raised taxes and cut Social Security and Medicare benefits — a proposal that was swiftly shot down by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has previously suggested that Social Security and Medicare be eliminated as federal entitlement programs and instead become programs approved by Congress on an annual basis as discretionary spending.
Trump’s claims that he would tackle waste and abuse in entitlement programs came after an interview Monday with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” in which he was asked if he had changed his outlook on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
“First of all, there is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting, and in terms of, also, the theft and bad management of entitlements,” Trump responded. “Tremendous bad management of entitlements. There’s tremendous amounts of things and numbers of things you can do.”
The remarks gave Biden new ammunition in their 2024 election rematch. Trump’s campaign said he was talking about cutting “waste and fraud” as the Biden team attacked.
On Wednesday — just after winning enough delegates to secure the Republican presidential nomination — Trump told the conservative website Breitbart that he would not do anything to jeopardize Social Security or Medicare.
“There’s so many things we can do,” Trump said. “There’s so much cutting and so much waste in so many other areas, but I’ll never do anything to hurt Social Security.”
As president, Trump proposed some budget cuts to safety-net benefits such as a Social Security program aiding workers with disabilities. Administration officials said in one budget proposal that they would cut spending by testing “new approaches to increase labor force participation.”
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you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
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Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
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memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,938
yeah. except the feds like a bulletproof case AND the initial investigation by the FBI was hampered from sycophants within the FBI . NYS case was ongoing seeking records. Manhattan even before he was out of office. Fulton Co began in 2021, but do go on.....
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you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,938
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
POOTWH could have at least taken his hat off. How dare he disrespect the anthem in such a way!
real windy in ohio today. 5 tornados Thursday night/Friday morning. at least three dead about 40 miles or so north of where he told the same lies today.
which is to say, he needed to keep the "hair" in place.....
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,938
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,772
From the WaPo comments section. Wonder what our friends from the other side think about or would say about this? Oh yea, right.
What kind of being is it that is not offended by the vile and disgusting creature who responds to the name Donald Trump?
There are many types of people that join cults and the MAGAphiles in Trump’s cult include a variety of members. Some may not even realize they are in a cult.
Cult leaders use their cults as a way to amass their own power and wealth, all the while telling their masses they are there for them. MAGAphiles need to ask themselves - besides uttering words and promises against the people and things you hate, what has Trump DONE that personally made YOUR life better?
Maybe, there are some MAGAphiles that are really angry with how their life is going and want to blame it on someone else. They love when Trump gets on stage and howls with hate, degrades people and threatens violence and destruction. Besides, wild antics and raging oratory, where he spews vicious and violent words to incite you to more anger, what has Trump done to help solve what is causing your anger? Inciting his cult to get angry, send money to Trump and buy his merchandise is a way to focus your anger on his wants and needs and get you ready to fight if your cult leader, DT.
Trump is the stereotypical cult leader. He is an authoritarian, who answers to no one, with a submissive and loyal following from his cult members, who don’t even try to hold him accountable. (This does include elected Republicans, faux Christians and haters.) Trump also does not allow criticism or anyone questioning him. Trump needs his cult members to believe he is the only person who is right all the time and the only one telling them the truth.
Trump’s demand for his MAGAphiles is that they devote their time, money, skill and recruit to prop him up in his fight to maintain power over them and benefit financially from them. Keep buying his merchandise and attending his rallies (where some are paid to attend his rallies to make the attendance look larger). What kind of slime creature is Donald Trump?
Me thinks he’s got a three foot bong in that golf bag, right?
Haha! I don't know what he's smoking in that thing, but it must be some pretty strong shit. His latest gaffe is his statement about Biden and Obama running against each other in an election. Look at, Donald, a heard of pink elephants are headed your way!
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,938
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
"To see Trump saluting the insurrectionists, the Americans he persuaded to violently break the law in the service of undermining the Constitution, was unnerving. But perhaps also clarifying...Trump supports criminals. The rest of us support the republic."
Comments
US firm that paid indicted FBI informant tied to Trump associates, records reveal
Alexander Smirnov was paid $600,000 in 2020 – the same year he allegedly began lying to FBI about Bidens’ role in Ukraine business
An American company that paid the now indicted FBI informant Alexander Smirnov in 2020 is connected to a UK company owned by Trump business associates in Dubai, according to business filings and court documents.
Smirnov is now accused of lying to the FBI about Hunter Biden and his father, President Joe Biden, alleging that they engaged in a bribery scheme with executives at the Ukrainian energy company Burisma. Smirnov’s accounts to the FBI, beginning in 2020, that federal prosecutors now say are fabrications, served as a major justification of the House impeachment investigation into the Bidens.
Republican lawmakers have repeatedly touted Smirnov as a reliable informant, and the chairman of the House oversight committee, James Comer, even threatened to hold FBI director Christopher Wray in contempt unless he “handed over” a June 2020 FBI form with Smirnov’s claims to the committee.
Back in 2020, Smirnov was paid $600,000 by a company called Economic Transformation Technologies (ETT), prosecutors said. That same year, Smirnov began lying to the FBI about the Bidens, according to the indictment.
ETT’s CEO is the American Christopher Condon, who is also one of three shareholders in ETT Investment Holding Limited in London. Other shareholders in the UK include Pakistani American investor Shahal Khan and Farooq Arjomand, a former chairman and current board member of Damac Properties in Dubai who is also listed as an adviser on ETT’s American website.
Last month, Smirnov was charged with lying to the FBI, and is being held without bail. Prosecutors argued he posed a flight risk because of his contacts with Russian officials in the Middle East and access to millions of dollars.
Smirnov’s indictment alleged that the facts in a document, known as a 1023, and other statements made to his FBI handler beginning in 2020 and continuing until December 2023, were factually impossible.
The exact business model of Texas-based ETT is murky. Its mission statement reads in part: “ETT set up the chess board to bring in top notch executives from those sectors to help implement its vision of love and social impact to improve the quality of human existence through the application of ‘new age’ technologies.”
The current CEO, Condon, is a California man who has been involved in several civil lawsuits, including a civil Rico case in 2010 that he won on appeal. Condon’s official biography says he is “a former professional tennis player, financial advisor, and currently is an entrepreneur focused on social-impact projects, public-private partnerships, and creating smart communities that benefit both individuals and governments”.
Condon, Arjomand and Khan registered ETT Investment Holding Limited in the UK on 6 March 2020. Khan, an investor who purchased the Plaza Hotel in 2018, and Arjomand have ties to Donald Trump through Trump associates and Damac, a major Middle East developer that has partnered with Trump for a decade. Arjomand, Khan and Condon owned 34%, 33% and 33% of ETT Investment Holding Limited respectively, according to UK business filings. No other information on the UK company is readily available.
Former Damac chairman Hussain Sajwani is also close to Trump and has been described as his friend in multiple news reports. Trump has called the billionaire a “friend” and a “great man”, and his family “the most beautiful people”.
Sajwani attended Trump’s 2016 inauguration, and Trump’s sons Donald Jr and Eric Trump attended the 2017 ribbon-cutting of the Trump International golf club in Dubai, licensed by Damac in 2014. Sajwani and his family also attended a party in 2017 at Mar-a-Lago. Trump’s sons would go on to attend Sajwani’s daughter’s wedding in 2018.
In 2017 FEC filings, Trump disclosed making up to $5m from the Damac licensing deal, but said he would no longer do personal business deals when he became president. The two continued at least talking business into his presidency, however, according to multiple reports.
“Hussein, Damac, a friend of mine, a great guy. I was offered $2bn to do a deal in Dubai, a number of deals, and I turned it down,” Trump said in 2017.
Arjomand was the vice-chairman of Damac when the Trump International golf club, along with adjoining Trump-branded luxury homes, opened, and he replaced Sajwani as chair in 2021 when Sajwani stepped down to privatize the company.
Khan, who owns Dubai-based Trinity White City Ventures, is a New York native who partnered with New York City developer Kamran Hakim to buy the Plaza Hotel in 2018 for $600m. He was a board member of ETT from 2019 to June 2020, according to his LinkedIn page, appearing in event photographs with Condon in Miami that year.
Khan is involved in a range of business from AI to mining to cybersecurity, according to his official biographies. In 2019, he was one of a dozen Pakistani American business owners invited to meet the then Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan the day before Imran met with Trump and Mike Pompeo, then the secretary of state, in Washington DC. The group was there to discuss the expansion of business in Pakistan.
In 2017, Khan reportedly approached Brad Zackson, dubbed Paul Manafort’s “real-estate fixer”, to help him broker a deal to buy the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan, owned by the Pakistani government via its national airline, for $500m, according to the Real Deal. When the real-estate publication asked Khan about the reports, he denied that Zackson and Manafort, a former Trump campaign chairman, were involved. Khan purchased the Pakistani embassy building in DC in 2022 for $6.8m.
Khan is also CEO of BurTech Acquisition Group, a “blank check company”, or public shell company. Patrick Orlando, listed as a “special adviser” and shareholder of BurTech in 2021, was the CEO and chair of Digital World, another blank check company, from September 2021 to March 2023. When it began a merger with Trump Media & Technology Group in 2021, it was held up by an SEC investigation until given the green light last month.
The finalization of the merger may garner Trump as much as $4bn in shares, and help bolster his finances after his recent civil litigation losses. Orlando has known Trump since at least 2021, according to news reports.
Arjomand and Khan’s relationship is unclear. Arjomand, a former HSBC banker from the United Arab Emirates, also invests in hospitality businesses, including the celebrity Wahlberg brothers’ restaurant chain Wahlburgers, and owns a coffee company called Reborn Coffee.
ETT Investment Holding Limited was dissolved in 2021. Condon and Arjomand also registered a company called Atlas UK Group Limited the same day they registered the UK ETT, now dissolved.
The American ETT, then called Pandora Venture Capital Corp, was first registered in Florida in 2014 by Wisconsin resident Boris Nayflish, according to Florida business filings. Ukrainian American Nayflish is the ex-husband of Smirnov’s current partner, according to a Wall Street Journal report, which also claimed Nayflish stayed close to his ex, Diana Lavrenyuk, and Smirnov after the divorce.
Smirnov, born in Ukraine, lived in Israel before coming to the US in 2006.
Pandora changed its name to Skylab in 2017, then in 2018 Skylab seemed to split from what is now ETT, according to a lawsuit, when Condon first registered ETT websites and appeared on ETT’s Florida filings.
An unnamed former business associate told the Wall Street Journal that the $600,000 payment from ETT to Smirnov was “in exchange for a stake in an Israel-based crypto trading platform, called Bitoftrade, [that] Smirnov was working on launching”.
Calls and emails to Condon, Arjomand, Sajwani and Smirnov’s lawyer, and to Trump’s team, were not returned.
Khan told the Guardian: “I was on the board for a very short period, [and] there was no connection on my part.”
Smirnov is scheduled for a jury trial in April, according to court filings.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/14/company-paying-fbi-informant-trump-connections
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As alleged, the claims presented a possible financial conflict of interest for the District Attorney. More importantly, the defense motions and the State’s response created a conflict in the evidence that could only be resolved through an evidentiary hearing, and one that could not simply be ignored without endangering a criminally accused’s constitutional right to procedural due process. After receiving two and a half days of testimony, during which the Defendants were provided an opportunity to subpoena and introduce whatever relevant and material evidence they could muster, the Court finds that the Defendants failed to meet their burden of proving that the District Attorney acquired an actual conflict of interest in this case through her personal relationship and recurring travels with her lead prosecutor. The other alleged grounds for disqualification, including forensic misconduct, are also denied. However, the established record now highlights a significant appearance of impropriety that infects the current structure of the prosecution team - an appearance that must be removed through the State’s selection of one of two options. The Defendants’ motions are therefore granted in part.
8fcfbea3-28c8-46ef-8e66-25d11d8d9d2c.pdf (washingtonpost.com)
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the Court finds that the evidence did not establish the District Attorney’s receipt of a material financial benefit as a result of her decision to hire and engage in a romantic relationship with Wade. Simply put, the Defendants have not presented sufficient evidence indicating that the expenses were not “roughly divided evenly,” or that the District Attorney was, or currently remains, “greatly and pecuniarily interested” in this prosecution. Nichols v. State, 17 Ga. App. at 606.
In addition - and much more important - the Court finds, based largely on the District Attorney’s testimony, that the evidence demonstrated that the financial gain flowing from her relationship with Wade was not a motivating factor on the part of the District Attorney to indict and prosecute this case.
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Ultimately, dismissal of the indictment is not the appropriate remedy to adequately dissipate the financial cloud of impropriety and potential untruthfulness found here. See Olsen v. State, 302 Ga. 288, 294 (2017) (“Dismissal of an indictment is an extreme sanction, used only sparingly as a remedy for unlawful government conduct.”) (quoting State v. Lampl, 296 Ga. 892, 896 (2015)). There has not been a showing that the Defendants’ due process rights have been violated or that the issues involved prejudiced the Defendants in any way. Nor is disqualification of a constitutional officer necessary when a less drastic and sufficiently remedial option is available. The Court therefore concludes that the prosecution of this case cannot proceed until the State selects one of two options. The District Attorney may choose to step aside, along with the whole of her office, and refer the prosecution to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council for reassignment. See O.C.G.A. § 15-18-5. Alternatively, SADA Wade can withdraw, allowing the District Attorney, the Defendants, and the public to move forward without his presence or remuneration distracting from and potentially compromising the merits of this case.
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Conclusion
Whether this case ends in convictions, acquittals, or something in between, the result should be one that instills confidence in the process. A reasonable observer unburdened by partisan blinders should believe the law was impartially applied, that those accused of crimes had a fair opportunity to present their defenses, and that any verdict was based on our criminal justice system’s best efforts at ascertaining the truth. Any distractions that detract from these goals, if remedial under the law, should be proportionally addressed. After consideration of the record established on these motions, the Court finds the allegations and evidence legally insufficient to support a finding of an actual conflict of interest. However, the appearance of impropriety remains and must be handled as previously outlined before the prosecution can proceed. The Defendants’ motions are therefore granted in part and denied in part.
SO ORDERED, this 15th day of March, 2024.
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Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
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Trump granted clemency to Medicare fraudsters before vowing to cut entitlement program abuse
In an attempt to clean up comments he made this week about “cutting” entitlement programs, former president Donald Trump has vowed in recent days that he would reduce spending on Social Security and Medicare by targeting waste and fraud in those programs.However, a review of Trump’s record shows that, in the closing months of his presidency, he used his clemency powers to help several people convicted in major Medicare fraud cases, including commuting the sentence of a man the Justice Department had described as having “orchestrated one of the largest health care fraud schemes in U.S. history.”
In his last year in office, Trump commuted the sentences of at least five people who collectively filed nearly $1.6 billion in fraudulent claims through Medicare or Medicaid.
Among them was Judith Negron, the former owner of a Miami-area mental health company who was sentenced in 2011 to 35 years in prison for her role in filing $205 million in fraudulent Medicare claims and ordered to pay more than $87 million in restitution. Trump commuted her sentence in February 2020.
In December 2020, Trump commuted the sentence of Philip Esformes, who had been convicted in 2019 “for his role in the largest health care fraud scheme ever charged by the Justice Department, involving over $1.3 billion in fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medicaid for services that were not provided, were not medically necessary or were procured through the payment of kickbacks,” the department said.
Esformes was sentenced to 20 years in prison — but was freed after serving about 4½ years, after Trump granted him clemency. The White House noted at the time that, while in prison, Esformes was “devoted to prayer” and “in declining health.” Esformes was photographed hosting and dancing at his daughter’s lavish wedding days later.
Last month, Esformes pleaded guilty to Medicare fraud again after being retried on unsettled charges that were not included in Trump’s clemency order. As part of a plea agreement, Esformes was sentenced to the time he had already served.
In the final days of his presidency, Trump granted clemency to Salomon Melgen, a Florida eye doctor who had been sentenced to 17 years in prison after being convicted for his role in defrauding Medicare out of $42 million; and to John Estin Davis, a Tennessee health-care executive who had been sentenced the year before to 42 months in prison after being convicted for his role in filing over $4.6 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare.
Louis Saccoccio, CEO of the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association, called the Trump clemency orders “disappointing” and noted that the cases were not minor ones and probably took prosecutors a lot of time and resources to investigate.
“These are complicated cases, and usually it will take months if not, in many cases, years — maybe two, three years — to bring these cases to trial,” Saccoccio said. “Obviously, you want to send a message with respect to health-care fraud that it’s not going to be tolerated.”
Saccoccio said that in addition to the financial consequences of Medicare fraud, many cases result in patient harm. Saccoccio cited the case of Melgen, the Florida ophthalmologist, who prosecutors said would perform and bill Medicare for unnecessary injections and laser treatments on his elderly patients after falsely diagnosing them with macular degeneration.
Trump’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump has said for years that he will protect the popular programs, breaking with conservatives who argue that the United States should reduce benefits to keep the programs financially solvent.
Before the 2022 midterm elections, for instance, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) publicly unveiled a plan that would have raised taxes and cut Social Security and Medicare benefits — a proposal that was swiftly shot down by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has previously suggested that Social Security and Medicare be eliminated as federal entitlement programs and instead become programs approved by Congress on an annual basis as discretionary spending.
President Biden has repeatedly used such Republican proposals to paint the entire party as wanting to cut Social Security and Medicare, including recently during his State of the Union address and in his proposed 2025 budget.
Trump’s claims that he would tackle waste and abuse in entitlement programs came after an interview Monday with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” in which he was asked if he had changed his outlook on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
“First of all, there is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting, and in terms of, also, the theft and bad management of entitlements,” Trump responded. “Tremendous bad management of entitlements. There’s tremendous amounts of things and numbers of things you can do.”
The remarks gave Biden new ammunition in their 2024 election rematch. Trump’s campaign said he was talking about cutting “waste and fraud” as the Biden team attacked.
On Wednesday — just after winning enough delegates to secure the Republican presidential nomination — Trump told the conservative website Breitbart that he would not do anything to jeopardize Social Security or Medicare.
“There’s so many things we can do,” Trump said. “There’s so much cutting and so much waste in so many other areas, but I’ll never do anything to hurt Social Security.”
As president, Trump proposed some budget cuts to safety-net benefits such as a Social Security program aiding workers with disabilities. Administration officials said in one budget proposal that they would cut spending by testing “new approaches to increase labor force participation.”
Trump granted clemency to Medicare fraudsters before vowing to cut entitlement program abuse - The Washington Post
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Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
MAZA man! Make America Zoned Again, maaaaaaaaaan!
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Haha! I don't know what he's smoking in that thing, but it must be some pretty strong shit. His latest gaffe is his statement about Biden and Obama running against each other in an election.
Look at, Donald, a heard of pink elephants are headed your way!
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
looks good on him though.
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Chicago; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana