USA: The Criminal Investigation Trump Can’t Pardon His Way Out of Is “Significantly Escalating” - by Bess Levin

Donald Trump has been fairly busy these days trying to overthrow the government, but when he gets a moment for other pursuits, there’s one, in particular, he’s devoted a significant amount of time to: presidential pardons, and all the ones he reportedly plans to give out to people “like Christmas gifts.” There are the ones for his adult children and son-in-law, of course, but Trump has also apparently claimed he plans to pardon “every person who ever talked to me.“ (Rudy Giuliani is hoping he’s included on that list.) And then, obviously, there’s the self-pardon he‘s said to have asked about numerous times. That would clearly be in keeping with Trump’s view of the presidency—that it’s all about enriching himself—though unfortunately for him, it’s not a get-out-of-jail-free card. That‘s because it only covers federal matters and, at present, there’s an investigation in New York that’s presumably making him sweat out his Hawaiian Tropic self-tanner.

The New York Times reports that prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which is probing the possibility Trump or Trump Organization employees committed financial crimes, have interviewed several employees from the president’s bank and insurance broker over recent weeks, “significantly escalating an investigation…that he is powerless to stop.” Lawyers working for Cy Vance are said to have questioned Deutsche Bank employees about the company’s processes for making lending decisions; while the interviews were not focused on the firm’s relationship with Trump, bank officials reportedly expect Vance‘s office to “summon them for additional rounds of more specific questions in the near future.” As the Times notes, employees of Deutsche Bank and Aon, the insurance broker, could be key witnesses, given that the companies have a long history with the president and could “offer investigators a rich vein of information about the Trump organisation.

Read more at: The Criminal Investigation Trump Can’t Pardon His Way Out of Is “Significantly Escalating” | Vanity Fair

USA: The Criminal Investigation Trump Can’t Pardon His Way Out of Is “Significantly Escalating” - by Bess Levin

onald Trump has been fairly busy these days trying to overthrow the government, but when he gets a moment for other pursuits, there’s one, in particular, he’s devoted a significant amount of time to: presidential pardons, and all the ones he reportedly plans to give out to people “like Christmas gifts.” There are the ones for his adult children and son-in-law, of course, but Trump has also apparently claimed he plans to pardon “every person who ever talked to me.“ (Rudy Giuliani is hoping he’s included on that list.) And then, obviously, there’s the self-pardon he‘s said to have asked about numerous times. That would clearly be in keeping with Trump’s view of the presidency—that it’s all about enriching himself—though unfortunately for him, it’s not a get-out-of-jail-free card. That‘s because it only covers federal matters and, at present, there’s an investigation in New York that’s presumably making him sweat out his Hawaiian Tropic self-tanner.

The New York Times reports that prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which is probing the possibility Trump or Trump Organization employees committed financial crimes, have interviewed several employees from the president’s bank and insurance broker over recent weeks, “significantly escalating an investigation…that he is powerless to stop.” Lawyers working for Cy Vance are said to have questioned Deutsche Bank employees about the company’s processes for making lending decisions; while the interviews were not focused on the firm’s relationship with Trump, bank officials reportedly expect Vance‘s office to “summon them for additional rounds of more specific questions in the near future.” As the Times notes, employees of Deutsche Bank and Aon, the insurance broker, could be key witnesses, given that the companies have a long history with the president and could “offer investigators a rich vein of information about the Trump Organization.”

Read more at: The Criminal Investigation Trump Can’t Pardon His Way Out of Is “Significantly Escalating” | Vanity Fair

USA: New York prosecutors subpoenaed Deutsche Bank in Trump probe

The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which has been seeking President Donald Trump’s tax records, subpoenaed his longtime lender Deutsche Bank last year, suggesting its criminal investigation into Trump’s business practices is more wide-ranging than previously known, the New York Times said on Wednesday.

The prosecutors issued the subpoena last year, seeking financial records that the Republican president and his company had provided to the bank, the Times said, citing four unnamed people.

Read more at:
New York prosecutors subpoenaed Deutsche Bank in Trump probe - New York Times - Reuters

Britain - Brexit: The Man Who Bankrolled Brexit, Arron Banks, Under Criminal Investigation - by jamie.ros

Arron Banks, the biggest individual donor in British political history and a major source of money behind the Brexit campaign, has been placed under criminal investigation for several suspected offences that took place during the referendum.

Britain's election watchdog says there are “reasonable grounds” to suspect that Banks committed several crimes in the run-up to the dramatic vote, and that they suspect he wasn't the true source of £8 million ($10 million) in loans made to Better For The Country—a company he used to finance the Leave.EU campaign group whose public face was Nigel Farage.

The investigation by the National Crime Agency, which has the expertise to trace illicit cross-border money trails, will seek to find the true source of the money that funded Brexit.

Banks—one of the self-christened “bad boys of Brexit” who met Donald Trump in late 2016 with Farage—has long been a controversial figure with business links to Russia. He is known to have been offered three Russian business deals during the Brexit campaign, including one which gave him the chance to make huge profits from a Russian gold company.

Read more: The Man Who Bankrolled Brexit, Arron Banks, Under Criminal Investigation

The Netherlands: Dutch officials wanted information about 301 Facebook accounts last year

Dutch officials asked Facebook for information about 190 different Facebook accounts in the Netherlands in the second half of last year, and 80% of the requests were honoured, the social network says in a new report.

In the first half of the year, officials asked about 111 different accounts and in the second half of 2014, just 76.

n 2014, just 40% of requests for information were honoured.

In most cases, the request was made in connection with a criminal investigation, website nu.nl said.

Read more: Dutch officials wanted information about 301 Facebook accounts last year - DutchNews.nl