The civil tax fraud case against Russian-born former Trump crony Felix Sater has been dismissed by a federal court in New York.
Website Business Insider reported that on Wednesdayhttps://wahnews.com September 27https://wahnews.com 2017https://wahnews.com a Manhattan court formally dismissed a $250 million civil tax fraud case against the former Trump associate and real estate company Bayrockhttps://wahnews.com of which Sater is co-founder.
The person who allegedly exposed the tax corruption in the matter is Fred Oberlanderhttps://wahnews.com an attorney who previously represented Jody Kriss. Kriss is a former business partner of Sater who was charged in a money-laundering suit in which the company was the defendant.
In the tax fraud matterhttps://wahnews.com the company was being prosecuted as a qui tam case. This type of case makes it possible for the party who is exposing the corrupt activity to file charges on behalf of the state. Once this is donehttps://wahnews.com the attorney general’s office takes a look at the information and decides whether to pursue the matter or not. At Wednesday’s hearing Oberlander said that he had filed the complaint due to information that had come to his attention and which had ultimately been stricken from Kriss’ original complaint.
An attorney who was present for Wednesday’s court hearing told Business Insider that it was almost a certainty that the complaint would be dismissed due to the fact that Oberlander used as a significant of the grounds for his filing information that had previously been ordered stricken from the complaint by federal judges due to it’s confidential nature. Following the hearing it was confirmed by Sater’s attorneyhttps://wahnews.com Robert Wolfhttps://wahnews.com as well as by Sater himselfhttps://wahnews.com that the case had in fact been dismissed.
When the case was initially filed in 2016https://wahnews.com attorney general Eric Schneiderman’s office chose not to pursue the claims. An inaccurate press release was issued at Oberlander’s direction indicating that Schneiderman was in fact going to look into the case. Schneiderman immediately notified the New York Supreme Court informing them of the bogus press release and indicating that his office had expressly refused to pursue the matter. He indicated that the attorney general’s office wouldhttps://wahnews.com howeverhttps://wahnews.com continue to monitor the situation in order to protect the interest and the rights of the State.
Sater’s attorney spoke on the matterhttps://wahnews.com stating that the case had been dismissed not an any procedural groundshttps://wahnews.com but rather on it’s merits. Wolf further acknowledged the fact that his client as well as an attorney by the name of Richard Lernerhttps://wahnews.com who was working on the casehttps://wahnews.com had on two occasions been referred to the Department of Justice to be investigated fro criminal contempt directly related to alleged “misconduct” in the proceedings against his client.
The original lawsuit was filed against Sater and his company in 2010. It was brought by former Bayrock finance director Jody Kriss. The suit alleged that from almost the onset of it’s creationhttps://wahnews.com the company had been predominantly owned and operated by organized crime figureshttps://wahnews.com and that they used the company to consistently engage in patterns of corruption and illegal activities such as mailhttps://wahnews.com bankhttps://wahnews.com and wire fraudhttps://wahnews.com money launderinghttps://wahnews.com racketeeringhttps://wahnews.com tax evasionhttps://wahnews.com conspiracyhttps://wahnews.com extortionhttps://wahnews.com briberyhttps://wahnews.com embezzlementhttps://wahnews.com and more. Kriss claimed in the suit that both Sater and company founder Tevfik Arif used these illegal activities to cheat him out of millions of dollars. A New York judge ruled in December that Kriss’ lawsuit had merit and could move forward as a racketeering case.
Kriss’ complaint alleged that in 2003 Arif and Sater began negotiations with the Trump Organization to market some of Bayrock‘s projects under the Trump branding. They declinedhttps://wahnews.com howeverhttps://wahnews.com to inform Trump of Sater’s criminal record. Donald Trump gave a deposition in 2007 stating that he would never have permitted his organization to become involved with Bayrock or their developing any Trump projects had he been aware of Sater’s criminal record. Trump stated that he did not know Sater personally. Howeverhttps://wahnews.com an individual close to the matterhttps://wahnews.com speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution by Saterhttps://wahnews.com told Business Insider reporters that Sater had standing meetings with Trump on a weekly basis. The corporation’s office had previously occupied office space two floors beneath Trump’s own in Trump Towerhttps://wahnews.com located on Fifth Avenue.
Bloombery reported that in a deposition he gave about the casehttps://wahnews.com Sater himself said he “constantly” met with Trump. Bloomberg had previously reported thathttps://wahnews.com according to Jody Krisshttps://wahnews.com Trump highly valued Sater both for his fierce loyalty and for his Russian connections. In his 2007 depositionhttps://wahnews.com Trump stated that it was “ridiculous” that he wouldn’t be investing in Russiahttps://wahnews.com calling it one of the “hottest places in the world” for investment.
Richard Lerner told the media he plans to appeal the court’s decision to dismiss the qui tam case.