[ad_1]
Father and son embark on the creation of the myth of a self-taught billionaire
In total, the Times has documented 295 separate revenue streams created by Fred Trump over the last five decades to channel wealth to his son.
But the partnership between Donald Trump and his father went beyond the pursuit and preservation of wealth. They were also involved in a more ambitious project: creating the myth of Donald J. Trump, Self-Made Billionaire. If Fred Trump was the silent partner, helping to finance wealth spending, it was Donald Trump who had turned them into an alluring story.
Trump Tower, the privilege talisman that established Donald Trump as a player in New York, is emblematic of this dynamic. Fred Trump's money helped build it. His son recognized and exploited his iconic power as the first step of "The Apprentice" and his presidential campaign.
Donald Trump tried to change the will of his sick father, triggering a family calculation
In December 1990, Donald Trump sent his father a document that left him both angry and alarmed. It was a codicil seeking to bring a variety of changes to Fred Trump's will. Among them: the strengthening of the provisions that made Donald Trump the only executor of his estate. But in the midst of Trump's financial difficulties – it was the month of Trump's rescue from Castle – an amount of $ 3.5 million – Fred Trump was worried that the document would put endangering the work of his life, that his son uses the Empire as collateral to save his own failing businesses according to depositions given years later during a family conflict.
Fred Trump rejected the maneuver, refusing to sign the codicil. But the episode prompted a family account: Fred Trump was old and sick. Without a swift intervention, he could die leaving a vast estate – not only his real estate empire, but also tens of millions of dollars in cash – vulnerable to 55% inheritance tax.
So with Donald Trump playing a central role, the family came up with a plan that included unorthodox tax strategies that experts say were legally questionable and, in some cases, fraudulent.
The Trumps created a company that siphoned off species from the empire
The first major component was the creation of a company called All County Building Supply & Maintenance. On paper, All County was Fred Trump's buying agent, ranging from boilers to cleaning products. But All County was just a news, archive and interview company – a way to siphon money from Fred Trump's empire by simply marking the purchases already made by his employees. These millions of margins, actually untaxed gifts, were then paid to the owners of All County, Donald Trump, his brothers and sisters and a cousin.
Source link
