There are some stories about Democrats which I hate to bring to the attention of Daily Kos readers. This is one of them.
The Manhattan Democratic DA failed to bring criminal charges against two of President Trump’s children in an alleged real estate scam. DA Cy Vance, Jr. is the son of the late former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance under Jimmy Carter.
Excerpt from Daily News story:
In another case (besides the Weinstein case), the DA also failed to bring criminal charges against two of President Trump’s children in an alleged real estate scam.
Vance’s office cleared daughter Ivanka Trump and son Donald Trump Jr., who were being looked at for allegedly defrauding Trump SoHo investors and would-be buyers by lying about the number of condos that had been sold.
In 2012, Vance met with an attorney for the pair, Marc Kasowitz, who had previously given him $25,000. An additional $32,000 was donated after the office declined to prosecute Ivanka and Trump Jr.
Here’s the Wikipedia page about Cy Vance, Jr.
This story was covered in a major New Yorker story a year ago. This brings up a good question. Why now? It seems possible that this renewed look by the FBI is a result of the 50 some hours Michael Cohen spent being interviewed by the Mueller team. If there was a payoff to save Ivanka and Donald Jr. it is likely Cohen would have been involved in this or at least knew about it. Since such bribes to the Manhattan DA wouldn’t have been within the scope of the Mueller investigation he would have handed the case over to the FBI, presumably their New York City office.
Excerpt:
In September, 2012, within weeks of the case being resolved (in favor of the Trumps), Kasowitz (the Trump’s attorney) contacted Vance’s campaign about hosting a fund-raiser, according to a spokesperson for the campaign. Kasowitz held the event that January. He personally donated almost thirty-two thousand dollars to Vance’s campaign, and twenty of his law firm’s partners and employees kicked in at least another nine thousand dollars. Then, in October, 2013, as Election Day approached, he hosted a breakfast for Republicans for Cy Vance, which raised an additional nine thousand dollars.
Vance defended his decision to accept the money Kasowitz sent his way. “We did the right thing,” he said, referring to the decision to drop the case. “Another five and a half months go by. Marc Kasowitz has no matter pending before the office for the Trumps or anybody else. It’s 2013 and it’s an election—and I welcome his support.” Vance noted that New York law allowed him to accept such a contribution. Still, he now intends to return the money to Kasowitz.
Ivanka Trump is now an adviser to the President, with an office in the West Wing. Donald, Jr., is running much of the family empire while his father is in the White House. Kasowitz attained national prominence when he was retained to represent the President in the Russia investigation, only to be supplanted as lead counsel. Vance is running unopposed for reëlection in November. The Trump SoHo went into foreclosure in 2014 and was taken over by a creditor. Only a hundred and twenty-eight of the three hundred and ninety-one units in the building have sold. That comes out to around thirty-three percent.
I certainly hope that the FBI finds no wrongdoing. I am also worried that if the FBI does find enough evidence that Cy Vance, Jr. took bribes to stop prosecution of Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. they will be allowed by Jeff Sessions to continue to take this to a grand jury.
Will Jeff Sessions or someone Trump replaces him with, allow an investigation of a Democrat to move forward if what is being investigated is corruption which allowed two to of his children to get off?