Credit Suisse in Five-Nation Tax Probe - Bloomberg

Credit Suisse in Five-Nation Tax Probe

Just when he thought the worst was behind him, Tidjane Thiam is facing another potential blow to a two-year-old turnaround that is just beginning to bear fruit.

On Friday, Thiam’s Credit Suisse Group AG found itself embroiled in a tax-evasion and money-laundering investigation spanning five countries that could involve thousands of account holders. It’s the latest headache for a CEO who may have to ask shareholders for a third capital increase in five years as the firm tries to recover from the cost of settling legal bills and surprise trading losses.

Thiam is considering selling shares or pursuing a partial initial public offering of the firm’s Swiss unit as he tries to free up capital to expand wealth management in Asia while shrinking the investment bank. The CEO, who said in February that Credit Suisse’s $5.3 billion settlement with the U.S. over sales of toxic mortgage debt was a “game changer,” now faces the possibility of renewed uncertainty about the bank’s legacy issues.

“The problem for Credit Suisse is that they seem to be in the dark and have no idea what will result from this,” said Piers Brown, an analyst with Macquarie Group Ltd. who has an underperform rating on the stock. “The two things that people are fearing is a big fine and that this prompts another wave of outflows from their European business as clients get fed up with the franchise.”

Offices Contacted

The bank said its offices in London, Paris and Amsterdam were “contacted” on Thursday by authorities in connection with client tax matters, and that it’s cooperating. The move was so secret that not even Switzerland’s authorities knew about it. Investigators in the Netherlands arrested two people -- seizing a gold bar, paintings and jewelry -- and are probing dozens more suspected of hiding millions of euros in Swiss accounts, the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service said Friday.

Iqbal Khan, head of the unit that houses the wealth management operations whose offices were examined, said it’s too early to assess the impact on clients and the bank’s strategy won’t change.

“This whole action is something that does surprise me in terms of timing,” Khan said in a telephone interview Friday, pointing out that the inquiries were made public a day before the bank implements an automatic exchange of information with European authorities. “We’ve taken a proactive stance and zero tolerance when it comes to tax” evasion in Europe.

The bank repeated its “zero tolerance” approach in full-page advertisements taken out in U.K. newspapers on Sunday, giving a seven-bullet-point response to the probe. The bank added that it previously terminated relationships with clients who didn’t prove they paid their taxes, leading to “very significant asset outflows.”

Longstanding Plan

The raids come as the bank is considering asking shareholders for more than 3 billion Swiss francs ($3 billion) as an alternative to its longstanding plan to raise capital by listing part of its local unit, people familiar with the matter have said.

“It’s tight, but I believe they could do without” the IPO, David Herro, chief investment officer of Harris Associates, one of Credit Suisse’s top three shareholders, said early on Friday. “Raising capital must be something that’s done after a lot of careful thought.”

Herro, speaking to newspaper NZZ am Sonntag, said he’ll support proposals by the board of directors at the bank’s annual general meeting scheduled for later this month.

Credit Suisse fell 1.3 percent to 14.71 francs at 10:41 a.m. Monday in Zurich, while the Bloomberg Europe Banks Index was down 0.6 percent. The bank’s shares have climbed 0.7 percent this year.

Dutch Tax

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The tip that triggered the investigation came from one or more informers to a team in the FIOD, the criminal investigation service of the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration, said spokeswoman Wietske Visser. The five countries coordinated their actions through the European Union’s Judicial Cooperation Unit, which said in a statement that the investigation started in 2016 and that further actions are likely in the next few weeks.

The raids are not “good news but my gut feeling is that this is not a major case,” said Thomas Braun, a portfolio manager at BWM AG, which holds about 3.7 million shares in Credit Suisse. “The main question is whether these are current accounts or accounts of clients with which Credit Suisse canceled its relationship.”

It’s a question Khan said he couldn’t answer at this time. To his knowledge, the probes target individuals outside the bank, he said. No assets held at Credit Suisse were confiscated. If it turns out individuals inside the bank violated policies, there would be disciplinary action, though that’s too early to determine, he said.

Credit Suisse has reported more than 40 billion francs in outflows since 2011 from clients that moved to become tax compliant, Khan said. In Europe, those outflows are done, he said, though the unit expects about 5 billion francs from other regions this year.

Khan said he has no reason to change that guidance at this point.

Tax Obligations

Credit Suisse was fined $2.6 billion in 2014 after admitting it helped Americans cheat on their tax obligations and conducting what then-U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called a “shamefully inadequate internal inquiry” into the wrongdoing.

In Europe, the bank agreed in October to pay about 109.5 million euros ($117 million) to Italian authorities to resolve a probe into the bank’s use of insurance policies allegedly designed to help clients evade taxes, five years after paying 150 million euros to settle a tax-evasion dispute with the German government.

“This leaves them in a difficult position” in case of a settlement, said Macquarie analyst Brown. “They’ve had a huge one in the U.S., and France is chasing UBS for a big sum, so the timing is poor,” especially given the discussions about a capital increase.

Lithuania says Russia has ability to launch Baltic attack in 24 hours - Reuters

Lithuania says Russia has ability to launch Baltic attack in 24 hours

By Andrius Sytas | VILNIUS

Russia has developed the capability to launch an attack on the Baltic states with as little as 24 hours' notice, limiting NATO's options to respond other than to have military forces already deployed in the region, Lithuania's intelligence service said on Monday.

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, annexed by the Soviet Union in the 1940s but now part of both NATO and the European Union, have been increasingly nervous since the Russian takeover of Crimea in 2014.

The Lithuanian intelligence service said in its annual threat assessment that Russia had upgraded its military in the Kaliningrad region last year, reducing lead times for any attack and potentially preventing NATO reinforcements.

The Russian upgrade included Su-30 fighter aircraft and missile systems allowing ships to be targeted almost anywhere in the Baltic Sea.

"This is a signal to NATO to improve its decision speed," Lithuanian Defence Minister Raimundas Karoblis told reporters on the sidelines of the presentation of the report. "NATO's reaction time is not as fast as we would like it to be."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the concerns as a display of anti-Russian sentiment.

"There is total Russophobia, hysterical Russophobia going on," he said at a daily conference call with reporters.

"Moscow has always supported good relations with the Baltic states," he said.

This year NATO is deploying a force of about 1,000 soldiers in each of the Baltic states and Poland, in addition to smaller contingents of U.S. troops already in the region.

"The force is adequate in the short-term, but in the medium-term perspective we would like more capability, and not only land troops but also air defenses and capabilities to counter any blockade," Karoblis said.

Russia is monitoring and suppressing radio frequencies used by NATO pilots over the Baltic Sea and is using commercial and scientific ships for surveillance, the report said.

The intelligence service said there was also the risk of "deliberate or accidental incidents" involving Russian and Belarusian troops who are taking part in military exercises planned for March.

The Baltic states have previously said they would press the United States and NATO to take additional security measures in the region ahead of the exercises.

Intelligence officers said disinformation aimed at discrediting NATO soldiers stationed in Lithuania, such as a recent false report of a rape by German soldiers, was likely to persist.

"Provocations against NATO units in Lithuania will continue and will get bigger," Remigijus Baltrenas, head of Lithuanian military counterintelligence, told reporters.

(Additional reporting by Maria Tsvetkova in Moscow; Editing by Niklas Pollard and Andrew Bolton)

White House social media director abused position by attacking Republican congressman - Washington Post

White House social media director abused position by attacking Republican congressman

A tweet by White House social media director Dan Scavino Jr. urging supporters of President Trump to challenge a GOP lawmaker may have violated a federal law that prohibits officials from using their positions for political activity, ethics experts said.

On Saturday, Scavino went after Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, calling him “a big liability” in a tweet from his personal account. “#TrumpTrain, defeat him in primary,” he added.

Amash is a member of the House Freedom Caucus, which Trump blames for derailing legislation that would have repealed parts of the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

Even though Scavino was tweeting from his personal account, the page at the time listed his official White House position and featured a photo of him inside the Oval Office, noted Richard Painter, who served as the chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration.

“You can't just load up your personal Twitter page with a lot of official stuff,” Painter said. “This is way over the top. It’s not a personal page. It's chock full of official stuff.”

Painter said he thinks Scavino's tweet violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits the use of one's office for political purposes.

“We would have fired him” in the Bush White House, he said. “This is use of official position for a partisan election. You can’t avoid it.”

A White House official said the tweet did not violate the Hatch Act “as it clearly comes from his personal account and not his official White House account.”

“He created an official account upon entering the White House to ensure compliance with the Hatch Act, and he has taken the necessary steps to ensure there is a clear distinction between both Twitter accounts,” the official said.

By Sunday morning, Scavino had changed the biography on his personal Twitter page, removing the reference to his current post at the White House and noting solely that he was director of social media for Trump's campaign. He also altered the photo at the top of his personal and official pages, removing images of Trump supporters at a rally holding signs.

dan-scavino-02.jpg

Scavino's missdirected Twitter bio

However, the profile photo on his personal account is still an image of Scavino inside the Oval Office. And in his apparent haste, he typed the wrong handle for the president, using @realDonaldTump instead of @realDonaldTrump. After the Washington Post noted the typo, Scavino removed the reference to Trump's handle.

Later Sunday, Scavino rejected the suggestion that he had done anything wrong when asked by a reporter on Twitter if he had a response to the ethics lawyers who say he violated the Hatch Act.

The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued

8.

“What 'ethics lawyers?' The ones from the Obama Admin who want to take Trump down, or the Bush Admin who were #NeverTrump? No thanks!” he wrote.

The Washington Post

Spain ‘surprised’ at UK commentary over Gibraltar - Financial Times

Spain ‘surprised’ at UK commentary over Gibraltar

Spanish foreign minister plays down tensions generated by Brexit guidelines

https://www.ft.com/content/fe4b7478-184f-11e7-a53d-df09f373be87

Spanish foreign minister Alfonso Dastis has said his government is “surprised” at the tone of commentary in the UK over Gibraltar, after a weekend in which former Tory leader Michael Howard suggested Britain could go to war to defend the territory.

“I think that someone in the UK is losing their temper and there’s no reason for that,” said Mr Dastis, as he sought to play down the tensions generated by a condition in the European Council’s draft negotiating guidelines on Brexit.

The condition in effect gives Spain a veto on any future UK-EU trade deal that affects Gibraltar, which has been in British hands for 300 years.

“We are a little surprised at the tone this has generated in the UK, a country characterised historically for its composure,” Mr Dastis said at the opening ceremony of an economic forum in Madrid. “In this case, the traditional British composure has been notable for its absence.”

On Sunday, Gibraltar chief minister Fabian Picardo told the Financial Times that Spain’s use of the territory as a bargaining chip was “scandalous” and noted that 12,000 workers, mostly Spanish, cross the border every day. “This is why it is in everyone’s interest that there should be a sensible, orderly and well managed Brexit between Spain and Gibraltar,” he said.

Mr Dastis seemed to make a nod towards these workers in his comments on Monday. “We are not in favour of raising tariffs or making the relationship more difficult with the UK and the citizens of Gibraltar,” he said, adding that Spain’s goal was to defend the interests of its citizens who live near, and work in, the territory.

The foreign minister also repeated the Spanish view, made explicit over the weekend, that Spain did not want to see Scotland secede from the UK but would not necessarily veto a Scottish application for EU membership if it did pursue independence.

UK stranded between the Rock and a hard place

Flare up over Gibraltar represents early skirmish in unprecedented talks with EU

“Our position is clear. When the UK leaves the EU, it leaves in its entirety. Our desire is that outside of the EU it remains whole. Spain does not defend fragmentation or secession,” Mr Dastis said. “More than that, I won’t speculate about possibilities.”

In an interview published by Spain’s El País newspaper on Sunday, Mr Dastis said he did “not foresee that we would block” a Scottish membership application.

Some Scottish opponents of independence have long suggested that Spain would veto EU membership for Scotland, worried about setting a precedent for Catalonia, the Spanish region with a sizeable constituency in favour of independence.

But Mr Dastis said the case was “not comparable” with Catalonia, citing constitutional differences between the UK and Spain.

Referring to the comments, Scottish Nationalist party MP Stephen Gethins said: “We can now be absolutely clear: there is no intention of a Spanish veto over Scotland’s EU membership.”

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2017. All rights reserved. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.

The return of a child slave - Al Jazeera News

The return of a child slave
What happens when a child escapes their traffickers and should they ever be returned to the families who sold them?
Ana Palacios | 27 Mar 2017 08:05 GMT | Human Rights, Africa

Togo and Benin - On the West Coast of Africa, thousands of children are sold by their families, often for as little as $30. In exchange, they are offered the vague promise of a better life for their child. But what actually awaits is a life of slavery. The children endure physical and psychological abuse as they work from dawn until dusk far from their homes.
As part of its child protection programmes, UNICEF develops strategies to prevent trafficking, as well as working with local organisations to identify and care for those children who have already been trafficked. Alongside governments, civil society and NGOs, it provides medical, psychological and social care to rescued children, as well as facilitating access to education, vocational training and job opportunities.

NGOs Mensajeros de la Paz in Cotonou, Benin, and Carmelitas Vedruna in the Togo capital Lome, and Misioneros Salesianos in Kara and Lome, Togo, have cared for hundreds of child victims of slavery. By February 2017, these organisations between them had successfully reintergrated 1,527 children into communities.
Al Jazeera

Donald Trump forgot to sign anything at a signing ceremony - Independent

Donald Trump forgot to sign anything at a signing ceremony, and the internet loved it

We all know how hard it is to keep track of things when you’ve had a long week.
And yesterday it seemed like the business of running the free world got a bit too much for Donald Trump, as he marched out of an executive order signing ceremony having forgotten to sign any orders.
During an Oval Office appearance on Friday, Trump had been scheduled to sign a pair of orders focused on reducing the trade deficit in front of a gaggle of journalists.
The President was joined by the Vice President Mike Pence, commerce secretary Wilbur Ross and National Trade Council director Peter Navarro.
Announcing the new directives, Trump promised: “Under my administration the theft of American prosperity will end.” He assured the room: “We have a team that’s second to none: and when everyone’s in gear after these two orders I think it’s going to be something very special.”
He finished by saying:
You’re going to see some very, very strong results, very, very quickly.
However, instead of then sitting at his desk and signing the promised bills, Trump headed straight for the door, giving the mystified press, or possibly Pence, a thumbs-up.
Realising Trump's mistake, Pence immediately sprung forward to call him back, but Trump merely motioned him to scoop up the orders and follow him out.
It's widely assumed that Mr Trump was trying to get away from journalists who were asking questions regarding former national security adviser Michael Flynn and his connections with Russia.
Naturally, Twitter users have been quick to mock the error and Trump's swift departure:
It is believed President Trump later signed the measures behind closed doors, but the White House has yet to offer an explanation as to why he walked out of the ceremony. We can only assume he must have had an urgent appointment elsewhere.

Who’s Worth What at the White House: The Financial Disclosures - New York Times

Who’s Worth What at the White House: The Financial Disclosures
*
*
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
MARCH 31, 2017
The Trump administration released the financial disclosure forms from members of the White House staff. Here is some of what they reveal.
■ The disclosures include the complicated assets of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, President Trump’s daughter and son-in-law, who retain vast business holdings.

■ Stephen K. Bannon, the president’s senior adviser, made as much as $2.3 million last year.
■ Gary Cohn, the director of the National Economic Council and the former No. 2 executive at Goldman Sachs, has assets valued at $252 million to $611 million.

■ Mr. Bannon and Mr. Cohn, who both have past ties to Goldman Sachs, nonetheless took very different paths to their fortunes. Read more »
Gary Cohn, a former Goldman executive, is among the wealthiest White House employees.
Mr. Cohn, who until late last year was the No. 2 executive at the investment bank Goldman Sachs, has assets worth $252 million to $611 million, according to a disclosure filing released Friday. That makes Mr. Cohn, now the director of the National Economic Council and a central adviser to Mr. Trump, one of the wealthier members of the already-affluent Trump administration, which includes more than one billionaire.
In addition to the many millions of dollars in cash and stock Mr. Cohn received from Goldman Sachs that made up the lion’s share of his personal assets, he held a slew of positions in publicly traded stocks — many of which he has already said he plans to sell — and in various private entities. Those entities include a stake valued at more than $1 million in a consumer education and consulting business called Payoff, a position in a cosmetics retailer also valued at more than $1 million, investments in several self-storage concerns in Ohio valued at $100,000 or more each, and an investment in a venture capital fund run by Andreessen Horowitz, the Silicon Valley powerhouse, valued at $100,000 or more.
Bannon made between $1.3 and 2.3 million last year.
Mr. Bannon may be one of the best known figures in the Trump White House, but as the Trump administration goes, he’s probably not one of the wealthiest. But by the standards of many Americans, he appears to be doing quite well.
Mr. Bannon earned at least $1.3 million and perhaps as much as $2.3 million last year, according to the disclosure report.
He disclosed $191,000 in consulting fees he earned from Breitbart News Network, the conservative media organization; $125,333 from Cambridge Analytica, a data firm that worked for the Trump campaign; and $61,539 in salary from the Government Accountability Institute, a conservative nonprofit organization. All three organizations are backed by the major Republican donors Robert Mercer and his daughter, Rebekah.
Mr. Bannon’s most valuable asset was Bannon Strategic Advisors Inc., a privately held consulting firm from which income from his other investments appeared to flow into. It was valued at $5 million to $25 million.
He also listed the value of his Bannon Film Industries at $1 million to $5 million. His bank accounts were valued at as much as $2,250,000, while he listed rental real estate valued at as much as $10.5 million.
Mr. Bannon made clear in his disclosure report that he intended to sell some of his assets, including his stake in Cambridge Analytica, the political consulting firm that sells “psychographic” profiles that it asserts can predict the personality and hidden political leanings of every American adult.
Mr. Bannon served until last summer as vice president of Cambridge’s board.
— Eric Lipton, Steve Eder and Jonathan Weisman
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner still benefit from their real estate empires.
■ The president’s daughter and son-in-law will remain the beneficiaries of a sprawling real estate and investment business still worth as much as $740 million, despite their new government responsibilities.

■ Ms. Trump will maintain a stake in the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.
■ Mr. Kushner’s financial disclosuressaid that Ms. Trump earned from $1 million to $5 million from January 2016 to March 2017, and puts the value of her stake at $5 million to $25 million.
Gary Cohn, a former Goldman executive, is among the wealthiest White House employees.
Mr. Cohn, who until late last year was the No. 2 executive at the investment bank Goldman Sachs, has assets worth $252 million to $611 million, according to a disclosure filing released Friday. That makes Mr. Cohn, now the director of the National Economic Council and a central adviser to Mr. Trump, one of the wealthier members of the already-affluent Trump administration, which includes more than one billionaire.
In addition to the many millions of dollars in cash and stock Mr. Cohn received from Goldman Sachs that made up the lion’s share of his personal assets, he held a slew of positions in publicly traded stocks — many of which he has already said he plans to sell — and in various private entities. Those entities include a stake valued at more than $1 million in a consumer education and consulting business called Payoff, a position in a cosmetics retailer also valued at more than $1 million, investments in several self-storage concerns in Ohio valued at $100,000 or more each, and an investment in a venture capital fund run by Andreessen Horowitz, the Silicon Valley powerhouse, valued at $100,000 or more.
Kellyanne Conway made over $800,000 from her consulting firm.
Kellyanne Conway, one of Mr. Trump’s top advisers, is wealthy, but modestly so when compared with some of her superrich colleagues.
Ms. Conway, a Republican strategist and pollster, made over $800,000 last year, her filing shows. As head of her own consulting firm, Ms. Conway’s clients included an assortment of conservative causes, including the National Rifle Association and the Tea Party Patriots, as well as Cambridge Analytica, the political data firm that advised Mr. Trump’s campaign. She was also paid for a speaking engagement at Point72 Asset Management, the investment firm run by the billionaire stock picker Steven A. Cohen.
Not bad for journalism.
Julia Hahn, until she went to work in the White House, was known as the 20-something reporter who filled Breitbart.com with conservative screeds. But she is also quite rich for her age.
A PNC custodial account owned by Ms. Hahn is valued at $500,000 to $1 million. And various stock funds listed on her financial disclosure are worth as much as $1.5 million.
Her work as a journalist was also nothing to sneeze at. As a reporter, she made $117,217 last year at Breitbart. On top of that, she earned $74,082 from Laura Ingraham’s radio show.
— Jonathan Weisman
■ Omarosa Manigault, a White House aide who is a longtime associate of Mr. Trump and was once a contestant on “The Apprentice,” received a wedding dress, veil and accessories valued at $25,000 in exchange for appearing on the TLC reality show “Say Yes to the Dress.”
■ Peter Navarro, Mr. Trump’s trade czar and resident China hawk, is not a wealthy man, but his salary as an economics professor at a public university wasn’t bad. According to his disclosure form, Mr. Navarro earned $240,000 in salary and bonuses from the University of California, Irvine. He also earned $10,500 for delivering a speech in November to the Casket & Funeral Supply Association of America.
■ Sean Spicer, the press secretary, reported stakes in the Coca-Cola Company, McDonald’s and several real estate investments. But, despite his much-discussed taste for cinnamon-flavored gum, he reported no investments in chewing gum companies (although he does invest in Walmart, which sells chewing gum).
■ Sebastian Gorka, a deputy assistant to Mr. Trump and a former editor at Breitbart News, reported consulting fees of $38,200 from Breitbart. He also reported royalties of $50,000 to $100,000 for his book “Defeating jihad: The Winnable War” — and also said that he signed a contract for a second book.
■ Boris Epshteyn, who served during the presidential campaign as one of Mr. Trump’s chief attack dogs and television talking heads, stills owes over $50,000 on college loans he took out more than a decade ago, his filing indicates. Recently, Mr. Epshteyn left his White House post under circumstances that were unclear.
■ Jason Greenblatt, the Trump Organization lawyer tasked with helping to bring peace to the Middle East, earned $1,025,000 in compensation from Mr. Trump’s company last year.

‘Very blessed and very successful.’
At his daily briefing on Friday, the White House press secretary Sean Spicer tried to put the best spin on the vast wealth that would be on display Friday night:
I think one of the really interesting things that people are going to see today — and I think it’s something that should be celebrated — is that the president has brought a lot of people into this administration, and this White House in particular, who have been very blessed and very successful by this country, and have given up a lot to come into government by setting aside a lot of assets. And I think it speaks volumes to the desire for a lot of these people to fulfill the president’s vision and move the agenda forward that they are willing to list all of their assets, undergo this public scrutiny, but also set aside a lot.
A Friday night document dump.
The White House disclosures fit an age-old pattern in Washington of dumping mountains of documents on Fridays, when normal people have left work and are beginning to enjoy their weekend. Not many are likely to be glued to their computers and television sets to track the wealth of White House officials.

After all, as Josh Lyman, the fictional White House deputy chief of staff on “The West Wing,” put it, “No one reads the paper on Saturday.”
A long list.
Here’s the list of the disclosure forms we’ve received so far:
Stephen K. Bannon, counselor to the president
Thomas Bossert, assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism and deputy national security adviser
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Who’s Worth What at the White House: The Financial Disclosures
*
*
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
MARCH 31, 2017
The Trump administration released the financial disclosure forms from members of the White House staff. Here is some of what they reveal.
■ The disclosures include the complicated assets of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, President Trump’s daughter and son-in-law, who retain vast business holdings.

■ Stephen K. Bannon, the president’s senior adviser, made as much as $2.3 million last year.
■ Gary Cohn, the director of the National Economic Council and the former No. 2 executive at Goldman Sachs, has assets valued at $252 million to $611 million.

■ Mr. Bannon and Mr. Cohn, who both have past ties to Goldman Sachs, nonetheless took very different paths to their fortunes. Read more »
ll
Financial disclosure forms from White House employees are being released on Friday.
AL DRAGO / THE NEW YORK TIMES
Gary Cohn, a former Goldman executive, is among the wealthiest White House employees.
Mr. Cohn, who until late last year was the No. 2 executive at the investment bank Goldman Sachs, has assets worth $252 million to $611 million, according to a disclosure filing released Friday. That makes Mr. Cohn, now the director of the National Economic Council and a central adviser to Mr. Trump, one of the wealthier members of the already-affluent Trump administration, which includes more than one billionaire.
In addition to the many millions of dollars in cash and stock Mr. Cohn received from Goldman Sachs that made up the lion’s share of his personal assets, he held a slew of positions in publicly traded stocks — many of which he has already said he plans to sell — and in various private entities. Those entities include a stake valued at more than $1 million in a consumer education and consulting business called Payoff, a position in a cosmetics retailer also valued at more than $1 million, investments in several self-storage concerns in Ohio valued at $100,000 or more each, and an investment in a venture capital fund run by Andreessen Horowitz, the Silicon Valley powerhouse, valued at $100,000 or more

The White House advisers Stephen K. Bannon, center, and Stephen Miller, left.
STEPHEN CROWLEY / THE NEW YORK TIMES
Bannon made between $1.3 and 2.3 million last year.
Mr. Bannon may be one of the best known figures in the Trump White House, but as the Trump administration goes, he’s probably not one of the wealthiest. But by the standards of many Americans, he appears to be doing quite well.
Mr. Bannon earned at least $1.3 million and perhaps as much as $2.3 million last year, according to the disclosure report.
He disclosed $191,000 in consulting fees he earned from Breitbart News Network, the conservative media organization; $125,333 from Cambridge Analytica, a data firm that worked for the Trump campaign; and $61,539 in salary from the Government Accountability Institute, a conservative nonprofit organization. All three organizations are backed by the major Republican donors Robert Mercer and his daughter, Rebekah.
Mr. Bannon’s most valuable asset was Bannon Strategic Advisors Inc., a privately held consulting firm from which income from his other investments appeared to flow into. It was valued at $5 million to $25 million.
He also listed the value of his Bannon Film Industries at $1 million to $5 million. His bank accounts were valued at as much as $2,250,000, while he listed rental real estate valued at as much as $10.5 million.
Mr. Bannon made clear in his disclosure report that he intended to sell some of his assets, including his stake in Cambridge Analytica, the political consulting firm that sells “psychographic” profiles that it asserts can predict the personality and hidden political leanings of every American adult.
Mr. Bannon served until last summer as vice president of Cambridge’s board.
— Eric Lipton, Steve Eder and Jonathan Weisman
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner still benefit from their real estate empires.
■ The president’s daughter and son-in-law will remain the beneficiaries of a sprawling real estate and investment business still worth as much as $740 million, despite their new government responsibilities.

■ Ms. Trump will maintain a stake in the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.
■ Mr. Kushner’s financial disclosures said that Ms. Trump earned from $1 million to $5 million from January 2016 to March 2017, and puts the value of her stake at $5 million to $25 million.

Read more from Jesse Drucker, Eric Lipton and Maggie Haberman »


Kellyanne Conway at the Capitol last month.
DOUG MILLS / THE NEW YORK TIMES
Kellyanne Conway made over $800,000 from her consulting firm.
Kellyanne Conway, one of Mr. Trump’s top advisers, is wealthy, but modestly so when compared with some of her superrich colleagues.
Ms. Conway, a Republican strategist and pollster, made over $800,000 last year, her filing shows. As head of her own consulting firm, Ms. Conway’s clients included an assortment of conservative causes, including the National Rifle Association and the Tea Party Patriots, as well as Cambridge Analytica, the political data firm that advised Mr. Trump’s campaign. She was also paid for a speaking engagement at Point72 Asset Management, the investment firm run by the billionaire stock picker Steven A. Co

Not bad for journalism.
Julia Hahn, until she went to work in the White House, was known as the 20-something reporter who filled Breitbart.com with conservative screeds. But she is also quite rich for her age.
A PNC custodial account owned by Ms. Hahn is valued at $500,000 to $1 million. And various stock funds listed on her financial disclosure are worth as much as $1.5 million.
Her work as a journalist was also nothing to sneeze at. As a reporter, she made $117,217 last year at Breitbart. On top of that, she earned $74,082 from Laura Ingraham’s radio show.
— Jonathan Weisman
Several other nuggets from the disclosures...


Omarosa Manigault at the White House in February.
PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS / ASSOCIATED PRESS
■ Omarosa Manigault, a White House aide who is a longtime associate of Mr. Trump and was once a contestant on “The Apprentice,” received a wedding dress, veil and accessories valued at $25,000 in exchange for appearing on the TLC reality show “Say Yes to the Dress.”
■ Peter Navarro, Mr. Trump’s trade czar and resident China hawk, is not a wealthy man, but his salary as an economics professor at a public university wasn’t bad. According to his disclosure form, Mr. Navarro earned $240,000 in salary and bonuses from the University of California, Irvine. He also earned $10,500 for delivering a speech in November to the Casket & Funeral Supply Association of America.
■ Sean Spicer, the press secretary, reported stakes in the Coca-Cola Company, McDonald’s and several real estate investments. But, despite his much-discussed taste for cinnamon-flavored gum, he reported no investments in chewing gum companies (although he does invest in Walmart, which sells chewing gum).
■ Sebastian Gorka, a deputy assistant to Mr. Trump and a former editor at Breitbart News, reported consulting fees of $38,200 from Breitbart. He also reported royalties of $50,000 to $100,000 for his book “Defeating jihad: The Winnable War” — and also said that he signed a contract for a second book.
■ Boris Epshteyn, who served during the presidential campaign as one of Mr. Trump’s chief attack dogs and television talking heads, stills owes over $50,000 on college loans he took out more than a decade ago, his filing indicates. Recently, Mr. Epshteyn left his White House post under circumstances that were unclear.
■ Jason Greenblatt, the Trump Organization lawyer tasked with helping to bring peace to the Middle East, earned $1,025,000 in compensation from Mr. Trump’s company last year.

‘Very blessed and very successful.’
At his daily briefing on Friday, the White House press secretary Sean Spicer tried to put the best spin on the vast wealth that would be on display Friday night:
I think one of the really interesting things that people are going to see today — and I think it’s something that should be celebrated — is that the president has brought a lot of people into this administration, and this White House in particular, who have been very blessed and very successful by this country, and have given up a lot to come into government by setting aside a lot of assets. And I think it speaks volumes to the desire for a lot of these people to fulfill the president’s vision and move the agenda forward that they are willing to list all of their assets, undergo this public scrutiny, but also set aside a lot.
A Friday night document dump.
The White House disclosures fit an age-old pattern in Washington of dumping mountains of documents on Fridays, when normal people have left work and are beginning to enjoy their weekend. Not many are likely to be glued to their computers and television sets to track the wealth of White House officials.

After all, as Josh Lyman, the fictional White House deputy chief of staff on “The West Wing,” put it, “No one reads the paper on Saturday.”
A long list.
Here’s the list of the disclosure forms we’ve received so far:
Stephen K. Bannon, counselor to the president
Thomas Bossert, assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism and deputy national security adviser



James W. Carroll, senior counsel
Justin Clark, deputy assistant to the president and director of intergovernmental affairs
Gary D. Cohn, director of the National Economic Council
Conway, Kellyanne, counselor to the president
Reed Cordish, special assistant to the president for intragovernmental and technology initiatives
Makan Delrahim, deputy White House counsel
Uttam Dhillon, special assistant to the president, Ethics Compliance Team
Carlos Diaz Rosillo, director of policy and interagency coordination, Domestic Policy Council
Jessica Ditto, deputy communications director
Ann Donaldson, chief of staff to the White House counsel
John Eisenberg, N.S.C. legal adviser, and deputy counsel to the president for national security affairs, National Security Council
Michael Ellis, associate counsel
Boris Epshteyn, assistant director of communications
Helen Ferre, director of media affairs
Scott Gast, special assistant to the president, Ethics Compliance Team
George Gigicos, director of advance and operations
Robert T. Goad, education policy adviser
Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to the president
Alexander Gray, deputy director for the defense industrial base, National Trade Council
Jason Greenblatt, special representative for international negotiations
Stephanie Grisham, deputy press secretary

Joseph Hagin, deputy chief of staff for operations
Julia Hahn, deputy policy strategist
Vincent Haley, adviser for policy, strategy and speechwriting, Domestic Policy Council

Hope Hicks, director of strategic communications
Kenneth Juster, deputy assistant to the president for international economic affairs and deputy director of the National Economic Council
Katsas, Gregory, deputy counsel to the president
Joseph K. Kellogg, Chief of Staff and Executive Secretary, National Security Council
Shahira E. Knight, special assistant to the president for tax and retirement policy, National Economic Council
Andrew D. Koenig, special assistant to the president and policy special assistant
Jared Kushner, senior adviser to the president for strategic planning
Gerrit Lansing, chief digital officer
Chris Liddell, director of strategic initiatives for the White House Strategic Development Group
Omarosa Manigault, director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison
Ashley Marquis, chief of staff of the National Economic Council
John McEntee, personal aide to the president
Kathleen McFarland, deputy national security adviser
Donald F. McGahn, counsel to the president
Bill McGinley, associate counsel
Stephen Miller, senior adviser to the president for policy
Peter Navarro, director, National Trade Council
Reince Priebus, chief of staff
Marc Short, director of the office of legislative affairs
Sean Spicer, press secretary
Reporting was contributed by Eric Lipton, Barry Meier, Rachael Abrams, Sarah Cohen, Jeremy Bowers, Andrew Lehren, Steve Eder, Jonathan Weisman, Lara Jakes and Ben Protess.

Mike Flynn could finally end Donald Trump's lucky streak - Independent

Mike Flynn could finally end Donald Trump's lucky streak
Unless his offer to provide evidence for immunity is all just some sort of pathetic Hail Mary to get his job back, Donald Trump should be pretty damn worried about this guy
* Nash Riggins
* @nashriggins
* Saturday 1 April 2017 14:15 BST
Donald Trump is lot like a cockroach – and not just because he’s generally chalk full of horse excrement. You can step on the guy all you want, but he always seems to scuttle away completely unscathed. And he’s survived more nuclear fallouts in the past 70 days than any other so-called politician would ever hope to see in ten lifetimes.
Cabinet resignations, court defeats, legislative setbacks, thousands of lawsuits, allegations of rape, mass protests and the lowest approval rating for a generation are just a “no, never mind” to him. Up until recently, it seemed like Trump’s ego, shameless ambitions and grip on power simply could not be killed.
But Michael Flynn might just be the industrial-grade pesticide the world has been desperately praying for.
Even if you’re unfamiliar with the name, you’ll have caught bits and pieces of his backstory. Flynn was a three-star army general turned ardent Trump warhawk. The two sparked quite a bromance over the course of 2016, and so it was hardly surprising when Trump named Flynn America’s top national security advisor after The Donald was sworn into office.
Within 24 hours of that appointment, Trump fed his friend to the crocodiles and kicked him out of the White House after it leaked Flynn had some alleged dodgy dealings with the Kremlin. Apparently Flynn met with a Russian ambassador to chat about the possibility of removing US sanctions after Trump came to power, and then lied to everybody about it.
Bad call. Critics scoffed at the early face plant, but everybody seemed to move on just fine.
But fast forward two months, and Russia has become Washington’s favourite buzzword. A few days ago, FBI Director James Comey announced that he was finally going to take action, and that he was formally investigating the Trump administration to see if the President’s team may have actually been working alongside Russia to cheat Hillary Clinton out of last year’s election.
And guess which disgraced former general with a huge chip on his shoulder immediately stepped out of the shadows offering to dish the dirt?
That’s right. Michael Flynn and his new, aggressively anti-Trump lawyer have volunteered to tell members of congress and the FBI everything there is to say about America’s greasy new president and his supposed links with Moscow – but only under the sole condition that Flynn is guaranteed total immunity from being prosecuted for what it is he has to say.
Senate insiders have already dismissed Flynn’s immunity offer as “wildly preliminary”, but members of the House Intelligence Committee sound quite keen. And unless this is all just some sort of pathetic Hail Mary to get his job back, Donald Trump should be pretty damn worried about this guy.
After all, as Michael Flynn himself so gingerly pointed out while campaigning for Trump in last year’s election: “When you are given immunity, that means you’ve probably committed a crime.”
We could speculate forever-and-a-day about what sort of crime that may have been, and where the big man with the little hands ultimately fits into all this. But the fact that wild speculation is even on the table speaks volumes as to just how far we as a society have fallen.
Donald Trump has completely and utterly desecrated the integrity of his office. He bathed the American people in snake oil in a desperate bid to reach what he perceived to be the top, and he stepped on a whole lot of friends along the way.
Well, Mr President, karma sure is a bitch – because it looks like Michael Flynn might have been the wrong friend to step on.