Tag Archives: scams

The Associated Press reports: When Donald Trump named his Treasury secretary, Teena Colebrook felt her heart sink. She had voted for the president-elect on the belief that he would knock the moneyed elites from their perch in Washington, D.C. And she knew Trump’s pick for Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, all too well. OneWest, a bank formerly owned by a group of …

The Washington Post reports: Donald Trump’s chief White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon accepted $376,000 in pay over four years for working 30 hours a week at a tiny tax-exempt charity in Tallahassee while also serving as the hands-on executive chairman of Breitbart News Network. During the same four-year period, the charity paid about $1.3 million in salaries to two …

Mic reports: As Meyers notes, Trump’s apparent beef with Hamilton is a diversion from some of the president-elect’s other, more unsavory stories from over the weekend. Specifically, Meyers refers to Trump settling for $25 million over fraud lawsuits with Trump University. “As fun as it is to talk about this Hamilton feud, it’s just a distraction from a far bigger …

Reuters reports: Donald Trump on Saturday defended his decision to settle lawsuits over his Trump University real estate seminars for $25 million, saying he does not have time to fight the fraud cases in court now that he is headed to the White House. The lawsuits cast a shadow over the Republican’s presidential campaign and led to one of the …

The New York Times reports: Donald J. Trump has reversed course and agreed to pay $25 million to settle a series of lawsuits stemming from his defunct for-profit education venture, Trump University, finally putting to rest fraud allegations by former students, which have dogged him for years and hampered his presidential campaign. The settlement was announced by the New York …

Via Right Wing Watch: Mary Colbert assured Bakker that God told her that Trump will win the election, but he will face several cataclysmic events as the new president: “God doesn’t do anything without telling his prophets first, that’s the way it is. He tells them so that they can tell. And this is what he said to me. He …

Via press release: Wells Fargo & Company announced today that Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf has informed the Company’s Board of Directors that he is retiring from the Company and the Board, effective immediately. The Board has elected Tim Sloan, the Company’s President and Chief Operating Officer, to succeed him as CEO, and Stephen Sanger, its Lead Director, …

Talking Points Memo reports: The New York attorney general’s investigation of the Donald J. Trump Foundation appears to have broadened to include new allegations of self-dealing by Trump that surfaced after the probe began, TPM has learned. The town of Palm Beach, Florida, has provided documents to the New York Attorney General’s Office as part of the probe, a lawyer …

Fortune reports: Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf may not lose his job over the phony account scandal that has cost his bank its reputation (and $185 million in fines), but he will lose his bonus — and then some. After weeks of public outcry and prodding from some Wall Street analysts, the Wells Fargo board announced late Tuesday that it …

One day after endorsing Hillary, the New York Times editorial board issued a scathing point-by-point rundown of why Trump should not be president. Here’s how it begins: When Donald Trump began his improbable run for president 15 months ago, he offered his wealth and television celebrity as credentials, then slyly added a twist of fearmongering about Mexican “rapists” flooding across …

The New York Daily News reports: Wells Fargo’s spiraling “sandbagging” scam might get a lot more expensive for the nation’s biggest bank. Two former employees filed a $2.6 billion class action lawsuit last week accusing the bank of demoting or ousting workers who failed to meet “unrealistic quotas” that drove other employees to rip off customers. “Wells Fargo knew that …

Politico reports: Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has paid his family’s businesses more than $8.2 million, according to a POLITICO analysis of campaign finance filings, which reveals an integrated business and political operation without precedent in national politics. The GOP presidential nominee’s campaign has paid his various businesses for services including rent for his campaign offices ($1.3 million), food and facilities …

CNN reports: Donald Trump bragged Tuesday there’s “nothing like” using other people’s money, hours after a report said he used more than $250,000 from his charitable organization to litigate lawsuits against his business interests. Trump, while calling for building safe zones in Syria financed by Gulf states, vaunted the benefits of doing business with “OPM.” “It’s called OPM. I do …

Another big scoop from David Farenthold: Donald Trump spent more than a quarter-million dollars from his charitable foundation to settle lawsuits that involved the billionaire’s for-profit businesses, according to interviews and a review of legal documents. Those cases, which together used $258,000 from Trump’s charity, were among four newly documented expenditures in which Trump may have violated laws against “self-dealing” …

Over at the Friendly Atheist, Hemant Mehta notes that the Ark Encounter has reduced their annual attendance forecast by 30%. But even the new number doesn’t hold up. He writes: Let’s do some quick back-of-the-envelope calculations here: If the park has been open for 71 days and has had 300,000 people show up, that’s an average of 4,225 people each …

Politico reports: New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has opened an investigation into the Donald J. Trump Foundation “to make sure it’s complying with the laws governing charities in New York,” he said Tuesday. A source familiar with the matter confirmed Schneiderman’s remark and said the New York Attorney General’s office “has opened an inquiry into the Trump Foundation based …

CNN reports: House Democrats are seeking a Justice Department investigation of the Trump Foundation, following reports about a large donation he gave to Florida’s attorney general in 2013. Trump donated $25,000 to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s campaign, as her office was considering whether to open an investigation into Trump University. Bondi’s office did not open an investigation, and Trump …

Huge scoop from Yahoo News: Donald Trump’s charitable foundation gave $100,000 in 2014 to a conservative activist group that was used to help finance a federal lawsuit against New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman — the same public official who was suing the real estate mogul for fraud over the operations of Trump University. The size and timing of …

Philadelphia’s NBC affiliate reports: A Hillary Clinton supporter is speaking out after he says he unknowingly appeared in a Donald Trump campaign ad. Calvin Anderson, a Philadelphia construction worker, told NBC10 he had just finished a long day of work at a site last July when he was approached by a photographer who asked him if he wanted to be …

The Christian Post reports: Controversial Pastor David E. Taylor of Joshua Media Ministries International in Florissant, Missouri, claimed last Thursday that he raised a woman from the dead through a message sent to her on Facebook. “Raised from the Dead! David E. Taylor Commands Her to Live Through Sending a Text Message Through Facebook — Releasing the Supernatural Resurrection Power …