Current events...
The article and photos on the Trump family wealth in the New York Times yesterday was almost unprecedented in length . It covered two fifths of the front page and seven full NYT pages within the first section. There were many things in the article that were familiar here, a few that will be mentioned. A reader will only understand if they have had the patience to read the article. Just to begin, the article begins with and at times reverts to many things that have been written about before in the paper of record and elsewhere. Much more detail is added. A few brief comments:
---With some knowledge of New York after having been here for 38 years, it can safely be said that what the article describes about Fred Trump's real estate business is, simply, the truth about how it works. Lawyers are essential to get anything done, rule and regulation skirting is their job, documents are hard to pin down as accurate or not due to the overwhelming amount that exist, and who people know is immensely important. Litigation is a part of the life. That's where Donald Trump's fortune came from and that was well known. Fred Trump worked within that system and would not have been seen as dishonest inside it. He was a long term and valued client of several major banks, one of which was part of my life. Compared to his father, Donald Trump was a different story, and that is not really news.
---Donald Trump was a successful self-promoter, working one creditor off against another until, by the early 1990's, no major New York bank did business with him other than operational services such as clearing. Foreign banks and some U.S. regional banks trying to become big shots were his sources of bank funds after that time.
---One bizarre fact, totally new here. The mailing address for the shell company that was a key part of the money laundering and tax evasion schemes of Fred Trump and Donald Trump is about one mile from our house on Long Island. A senior Trump partner lived here, and ran the company out of his house.
That's enough. More would be tedious, if this has not already been so.
---With some knowledge of New York after having been here for 38 years, it can safely be said that what the article describes about Fred Trump's real estate business is, simply, the truth about how it works. Lawyers are essential to get anything done, rule and regulation skirting is their job, documents are hard to pin down as accurate or not due to the overwhelming amount that exist, and who people know is immensely important. Litigation is a part of the life. That's where Donald Trump's fortune came from and that was well known. Fred Trump worked within that system and would not have been seen as dishonest inside it. He was a long term and valued client of several major banks, one of which was part of my life. Compared to his father, Donald Trump was a different story, and that is not really news.
---Donald Trump was a successful self-promoter, working one creditor off against another until, by the early 1990's, no major New York bank did business with him other than operational services such as clearing. Foreign banks and some U.S. regional banks trying to become big shots were his sources of bank funds after that time.
---One bizarre fact, totally new here. The mailing address for the shell company that was a key part of the money laundering and tax evasion schemes of Fred Trump and Donald Trump is about one mile from our house on Long Island. A senior Trump partner lived here, and ran the company out of his house.
That's enough. More would be tedious, if this has not already been so.
posted by John Borden at 4:30 PM
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