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Trump lashes out at financial monitor in business fraud case after she reports errors

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Trump lashes out at financial monitor in business fraud case after she reports errors

Donald Trump at the courthouse in Lower Manhattan, New York on October 17, 2023.

John Taggart | The Washington Post | Getty Images

Donald Trump on Monday lashed out at the financial monitor overseeing the Trump Organization and urged a judge to fire her days after she reported a range of issues — and flagged a questionable $48 million loan — in the former president’s New York civil business fraud case.

The independent monitor, Barbara Jones, “desperately seeks to justify the continued receipt of millions of dollars in fees going forward,” an attorney for Trump wrote in a letter to Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron.

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The attorney, Clifford Robert, said Jones has collected over $2.6 million in 14 months on the job. New York Attorney General Letitia James has asked Engoron to order that Jones continue to monitor the Trump Organization for at least five years as part of his judgment in the case.

But Robert wrote that Jones’ findings “simply do not support or provide any evidentiary basis for continued oversight.”

Robert made that argument three days after Jones submitted a report to Engoron accusing the Trump Organization of providing incomplete, inconsistent or incorrect information about its financial disclosures.

In a footnote in that report, Jones said that she identified a loan between Trump himself and an entity related to Trump Chicago Tower that later turned out not to exist.

She was told that the loan was believed to total $48 million, but that there are no agreements memorializing it.

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“However, in recent discussions with the Trump Organization, it indicated that it has determined that this loan never existed” and that it would be removed from subsequent forms, Jones wrote.

Robert called that “a demonstrable falsehood” in his letter Monday.

“The Trump entities of course never said the loan did not exist,” he wrote. “Rather, they provided a copy of an internal memorandum reflecting simply that ‘no liabilities or obligations are outstanding’ under the loan at that time.”

“The Monitor’s deliberate mischaracterization casts further doubt on her competency and veracity” and “simply fails to support continued oversight,” he added.

Jones did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on Robert’s letter.

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Jones’ report came days before Engoron was expected to deliver a verdict in James’ case accusing Trump, his two adult sons, his company and its top executives of fraudulently inflating Trump’s asset values to boost his net worth and obtain financial perks.

James seeks to ban Trump for life from participating in New York’s real estate industry or serving as an officer or director of a business in the state. She also seeks five-year bans with the same conditions for Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, who took over the Trump Organization after their father became president in 2017. The attorney general also seeks more than $370 million in penalties.

The public entrance to Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York.

Robert Alexander | Archive Photos | Getty Images

Jones, a retired federal judge who has been involved in multiple Trump-related legal proceedings, was selected in November 2022 by both Trump and James as their top pick to serve as the independent monitor in the civil fraud case.

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But Robert lashed out at Jones in Monday’s letter, accusing her of issuing her latest report to ensure she continues to “receive exorbitant fees,” paid for by Trump and his co-defendants.

Robert also accused the monitor’s report of containing errors that cast doubt on her competency, and of being “misleading and disingenuous.”

Jones’ “bad faith” effort “rehashes long-resolved issues,” Robert wrote, accusing the monitor of being “unabashedly self-serving” in reporting that the Trump Organization could continue to make errors that result in sending inaccurate financial information to third parties.

“Further oversight is unwarranted and will only unjustly enrich the Monitor as she engages in some ‘Javert’ like quest against the Defendants,” Robert wrote, referring to the misguided legal enforcer from the musical “Les Miserables.”

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Trump’s attorney Christopher Kise in a statement called Jones’ report “truly a joke.” He characterized her overall findings as merely a handful of unimportant clerical errors and inconsistencies.

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“Indeed, it is shocking that President Trump has been forced to pay millions for a Monitor to prove what he has said from the outset, namely, there is no financial reporting misconduct, no fraud and simply no basis for this abusive process to continue,” Kise wrote.

A spokeswoman for James called that statement “patently false,” referring to the issues Jones found, including $40 million in cash transfers that were previously undisclosed to her, as is required.

Engoron has said he will try to deliver a decision in the case by Wednesday, while noting that there is no guarantee on when he will issue a verdict.

The judge had ruled before the two-month trial even began that Trump and his co-defendants were liable for fraudulently misstating the values of various assets on key financial forms. The trial was conducted to determine damages and resolve other claims of wrongdoing in James’ lawsuit.

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Goldman Sachs Sets $1 Trillion M&A Record

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Goldman Sachs Sets  Trillion M&A Record

Breaking a six-month record, the investment banking giant capitalizes on a surging wave of global megadeals.

Goldman Sachs said it had advised on more than $1 trillion of announced global mergers and acquisitions so far this year, the fastest any investment bank has reached that milestone in a six-month period, citing data from capital markets data provider Dealogic.

The bank attributed the milestone to a string of marquee mandates, including serving as co-financial adviser to Dominion Energy on its roughly $67 billion sale to rival utility NextEra Energy, announced last month, along with other major transactions.

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Rise of the Megadeal

Goldman reported that its investment banking fees rose 48%, to $2.8 billion in the first quarter. It’s a reflection of the “K-shaped” M&A market, where megadeals are the dominant force, but deal volumes are declining, and mid-market activity is subdued. 

Data compiled by PwC revealed that the global M&A market is on track to reach $4 trillion in 2026, a 13% annual increase, with major sales estimated to account for 48% of deal value worldwide, a significant expansion from two years ago. 

“Goldman has been the global leader in M&A advisory fees for more than 90 consecutive quarters. The fact that it’s reaping benefits from a moment of megadeal activity simply proves the strength of its franchise,” said Mark Narron, senior director at Fitch Ratings. “However, advisory revenues are generally a small share of total revenues. In 2021, which was Goldman’s record year for advisory, advisory revenues contributed only 10% of total revenues.” 

Fitch says it’s difficult to forecast whether Goldman’s advisory revenues will continue to climb, given the cyclical nature of advisory fees and uneven regional M&A trends — with most deal activity still concentrated in the U.S.

Fitch expects M&A activity to be sensitive to market conditions, economic growth, geopolitical events, and interest rates. Global growth is estimated to decelerate to 2.8% this year, according to the latest OECD economic outlook report. Inflationary pressures are rising in advanced and emerging economies due to energy shocks from the Iran conflict. Prices in the G20 economies are expected to climb to 4% in 2026. In a “prolonged disruption” scenario, inflation could rise further, which may prompt hawkish interest rate responses from central banks.

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Peter Taberner is a contributing writer based in the U.K.

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Rodriguez fires campaign manager over finance filing issues – Civic Media

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Rodriguez fires campaign manager over finance filing issues – Civic Media

MADISON, Wis. (Civic Media) – Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, a Democratic candidate for governor, fired her campaign manager Sunday after discovering problems with campaign finance filings, her campaign said.

The campaign said the person was terminated effective immediately following an internal review that found “serious mismanagement and inaccuracies” in reports they prepared. Staff identified the issues late last week and alerted Rodriguez, who then moved to secure campaign accounts and remove the staffer.

The campaign said it plans to contact the Wisconsin Ethics Commission on Monday to correct the filings ahead of a key reporting deadline Wednesday.

Full statement below.

“The Sara Rodriguez for Wisconsin campaign has terminated its campaign manager, effective today, after discovering serious mismanagement and inaccuracies in campaign finance filings she prepared. An initial review found that the manager filed inaccurate and incomplete campaign finance reports. The campaign will be in contact with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission first thing Monday morning to ensure the inaccuracies are corrected. The moment Sara learned of these inaccuracies, she acted swiftly and decisively removed her. The campaign will continue to build support to win in August and beat Tom Tiffany in November.”

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Wedding budget: How to decide what to spend on your big day

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Wedding budget: How to decide what to spend on your big day

Weddings, and the amount they cost, can run the gamut from a small, DIY ceremony in the backyard to a massive bash that shuts down Madison Square Garden. Obviously, the latter may only be within reach for certain pop stars and their football-playing partners, but that still leaves a wide range for how much you and your soon-to-be spouse could potentially spend.

When making the determination, it is important to weigh two things: making your big day a special one and honoring your financial reality. Your wedding may mark the start of your next chapter, but your finances are what will largely shape your future as a married couple.

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