F.B.I. Raids Office of Trump’s Longtime Lawyer Michael Cohen

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I wonder why he had to pay Stormy so quickly that his boss didn’t know? And why didn’t setup an escrow account for the funds? But he set up a shell LLC. 🤔

And since we are sharing lawyer stories, I know a lawyer whose license was suspended for being sloppy with escrow accounts.
 
F_Marturana said:
And since we are sharing lawyer stories, I know a lawyer whose license was suspended for being sloppy with escrow accounts.
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I know more than one who was suspended for being “sloppy” with escrow accounts (usually called “trust accounts”, though) . One of them never did get his license back as far as I know.

But what makes you think this was an escrow account? It doesn’t sound like one to me.
 
F_Marturana said:
Payments on behalf of a client are supposed to go through an escrow account
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No. I think you’re confusing two different things.

You can’t pay something out of an account that has no money. That’s why advances by law firms in cases like products liability or medical malpractice or even auto accidents are almost never paid out of escrow accounts. There’s no client money to put in escrow.

However, if a law firm makes a settlement and the insurance company pays through the law firm, then the money goes into a trust (escrow) account.

Use of the term “escrow” is more widely used by transaction closers.
 
Ridgerunner said:
I know several lawyers, and the practice is pervasive
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Find me one, on the record. In a case analogous to the Cohen, Trump, Stormy case.
Bringing up lawsuits taken on a contingency basis some might call plain silly.
 
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I had withdrawn my post. Escrow account I believe are used for real estate transactions. I’m not sure about other transactions.
 
F_Marturana said:
I had withdrawn my post. Escrow account I believe are used for real estate transactions. I’m not sure about other transactions.
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'Escrow" is a term used in business transactions of various kinds, not just real estate. But its use is pervasive in real estate, and that’s true. It’s an account in which parties put money for distribution to other parties in a business transaction, usually it’s a “holding place” while other parts of the transaction take place.
 
dvdjs said:
Find me one, on the record. In a case analogous to the Cohen, Trump, Stormy case.

Bringing up lawsuits taken on a contingency basis some might call plain silly.
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I’m not going to do a bunch of research just because you don’t want to believe something I know for an absolute certainty is true and which any lawyer or judge would tell you if you just asked. This particular situation is just so common it happens undoubtedly several times per day.

And I sure am not going to go try to find a case close to the one in which the allegations are made by Stormy Daniels. No matter what it was, you would say it’s not quite the same things anyway.

But all you have to do is google “personal injury lawyer” in any town of any size, and look at their ads. You’ll see it.

And some even advance living expenses to clients, though there are debates about the propriety of doing it.
 
The warrant obtained to conduct the raid was the first known to directly mention the President in a search warrant, and sources said it appeared in connection with the now infamous “Access Hollywood” tape on which Trump appeared.

Three sources with knowledge believe that the information sought was not just to target Cohen but was also clearly aimed at discovering what Trump knew about efforts and any potential involvement he may have had in keeping the information from going public.

 
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Ridgerunner said:
I’m not going to do a bunch of research just because you don’t want to believe something I know for an absolute certainty is true and which any lawyer or judge would tell you if you just asked. This particular situation is just so common it happens undoubtedly several times per day.
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If it was that common you wouldn’t have to do a bunch of research.
Ridgerunner said:
But all you have to do is google “personal injury lawyer” in any town of any size, and look at their ads. You’ll see it.

And some even advance living expenses to clients, though there are debates about the propriety of doing it.
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You still seem to try to be conflating taking cases on contingency or law firms making a payment and billing their clients with the Cohen-Daniels transaction. They are in no way analogous.
 
Trump’s behavior is an absolute disgrace. Many people have said he should be impeached and prosecuted. We’ll see what happens.
 
dvdjs.

Why not just subpoena what you want? (I am not saying they CAN’T RAID an attorney’s office. But why not carry out conventional means first?)

Raiding an attorney’s office seems pretty drastic.

As far as out of pocket attorney payments, that seems to happen at least some of the time.

A lot of these college kids entering the NFL draft probably got money from their attorneys. (Some got loans from them too. But I suspect SOMETIMES they get out of pocket monies from these agents).
 
Ridgerunner said:
But all you have to do is google “personal injury lawyer”
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Good grief. You seem to be unable to understand the FOX News judge’s point because you insist on looking at oranges instead of apples. There was no contingency in Cohen’s action; he did not advance a lawsuit for Trump, looking for returns on a settlement. He paid hush money on behalf of a client who claims to know nothing about it. That is unethical and you will not find a lawyer who says otherwise. Please stop deflecting to personal injury suits that haven’t the slightest thing to do with the case at hand.
 
Cathoholic said:
Why not just subpoena what you want? (I am not saying they CAN’T RAID an attorney’s office. But why not carry out conventional means first?)
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The issuing of a subpoena would be the usual course of action. In order to bypass it , and conduct a raid to seize the evidence,the attorneys must convince a judge that advance notice would be too risky to the cause of justice in a serious criminal matter. The threshold is high, but evidently it was met in this case. That is why the raid is so significant.
 
Cathoholic said:
Why not just subpoena what you want? (I am not saying they CAN’T RAID an attorney’s office. But why not carry out conventional means first?)

Raiding an attorney’s office seems pretty drastic.
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You’re right that it’s drastic. They had to convince the judge that Cohen was either likely to, or had a history of, not complying with subpoenas or destroying evidence.
Cathoholic said:
A lot of these college kids entering the NFL draft probably got money from their attorneys. (Some got loans from them too. But I suspect SOMETIMES they get out of pocket monies from these agents).
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The difference here is the transaction was done with the knowledge of the client and under agreed terms. Cohen and Trump are claiming Trump had no knowledge of the deal and Cohen used his own money to enter a contract under Trump’s name with Daniels. Leaving aside the campaign finance implications this is not normal or ethical behavior for a lawyer.
 
Imachine . . .
The difference here is the transaction was done with the knowledge of the client and under agreed terms.
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OK. But would it be illegal for an agent to gift an athlete with a gift that was NOT “agreed terms”? An
anonymous gift? (Regardless of the “likelihood”)

I agree there are tax implications etc., but it seems like a subpoena would be appropriate.

Raiding and intimidating client’s attorneys hurt EVERYONE as it changes the relationship of lawyer with his (her) client or at least the perception of it (which ALSO causes problems).

This will all eventually come out, and if this was political shenanigans, that would be very damaging to our country not just because of the actions, but because of the advertisement or high-profile nature of this.

But thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut.

I will “stay-tuned” to this situation.
 
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dvdjs . . .
the attorneys must convince a judge that advance notice would be too risky to the cause of justice in a serious criminal matter. The threshold is high, but evidently it was met in this case. That is why the raid is so significant.
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Thanks for your take on this.

I’ll be watching as much of this all comes to light eventually.
 
Sy_Noe said:
The warrant obtained to conduct the raid was the first known to directly mention the President in a search warrant, and sources said it appeared in connection with the now infamous “Access Hollywood” tape on which Trump appeared.
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from the CNN article you posted:
The search warrant also sought communications between then-candidate Trump and his associates regarding efforts to prevent disclosure of the tape, according to one of the sources. In addition, investigators wanted records and communications concerning other potential negative information about the candidate that the campaign would have wanted to contain ahead of the election. The source said the warrant was not specific about what this additional information would be.
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This reads an awful lot like investigators are just trying to dig up negative information to use against Trump
 
There is a distinct difference between a once in while off comment by LBJ or BO as compared to the weekly ( if not daily ) comments made by Trump.

Hyperbole: obvious and intentional exaggeration.
Hyperbole is very common, but it is still lying. and it is a trait which can easily become a habit. It can be like the thin end of a wedge. Hyperbole is often seen as a more acceptable form of lying. It isn’t. It’s actually dangerous, because if it isn’t eliminated, it can undermine your conscience and, gradually, lead you into telling much more explicit lies.

I knew a church leader some years ago. He was particularly prone to Hyperbole . He actually became well known for it. People used to excuse it and speak of it as "just his way” and that he was “evangelastic” But it’s very wrong. It can easily escalate to the point where you aren’t just being a little rough and ready with figures, but increasingly wide of the mark. Therefore, make a decision never to exaggerate. It is wrong in itself, but it is also wrong because of what it leads to.
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And the vast amount of Trump’s lies are not wrapped up in Hyperbole:
Just take a look at his 79 Pant on Fire entries:

 
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