Fraud Guarantee

Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance continues to push for financial records from President Trump’s businesses, and he’s filed a brief with the court of appeals ahead of oral arguments that says the records could “establish New York crimes such as Scheme to Defraud , Falsification of Business Records, Insurance Fraud, and Criminal Tax Fraud, among others.” Should we expect that the grand jury is looking into exactly those things?

Not necessarily. It’s more speculative than specific, Ken says, and it’s routine for prosecutors to start in one place and wind up in another. Vance’s brief also says that Trump’s legal team is still trying to make the same I’m-the-president-so-treat-me-differently argument that the Supreme Court said wasn’t valid.

Then: Lev Parnas has been indicted on another charge: conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Parnas and an associate allegedly got seven people to invest in a company called Fraud Guarantee that was supposed to offer insurance against losses from fraud, but instead spent their investment on personal expenses. Is “Fraud Guarantee” is a) a good business name and/or b) could you use it as a defense if people sue you for fraud?

Plus: Stormy Daniels and Trump’s legal fees, Barr says prosecutors should definitely not ever be political and should always take orders from the top to prevent abuses, and more.