I was reading about Lisa Cook, the Federal Reserve Governor who Trump has accused of mortgage fraud. I am NOT excusing her behavior if the allegations are true, but I do know that some mortgage brokers may knowingly encourage such behavior to obtain better rates. And has anyone I know maybe fudged on their taxes?

It just made think about what my chances would be to survive a nomination investigation, or full blown investigation of my personal life by a motivated prosecutor. Personally, I don’t think I’d toss my hat in the ring. What about you?

Question:
Could you survive a Congressional investigation/vetting, or an aggressive prosecutor’s full blown investigation into your affairs?

Choices:
Yes! I am squeaky clean and pure as the driven snow.
Probably, depending on how many years they looked back, and if they believe I didn’t inhale.
I plead the 5th!

 

Of course I’m not even close to sinless as Jesus, but sure, I could.

Show me the man, and I’ll find the crime.

Lavarenti Beria

An interesting question that depends in part on what is meant by an “aggressive prosecutor” and what sorts of misdeeds we’re referring to.

Although Lavrentiy Beria may not have said it as is commonly attributed, “Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime,” the sentiment has often been expressed by various people. “A good prosecutor could indite a ham sandwich,” is a joke—until one is the target.

I still remember an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal that said in certain (many?) businesses it’s literally impossible to avoid breaking some obscure Federal law. Without citing examples on a firearms related forum, the same could be true of many other activities that most of us engage in. The last time I checked, it was against my city’s ordinances to throw a snowball at virtually anything other than one’s own property—and based on how the law was worded, even that might give an aggressive prosecutor a basis for a charge.

Much of what we do is of course not known to other people, but shortly after I became an Army criminal investigator another agent expressed his view of certain activities which was that it was only necessary for everyone involved to stick to the same stories. As became glaringly obvious throughout my investigative career, though, it was very common for a little crack in someone’s story and therefore his personal vulnerability to lead to an entire criminal edifice crumbling to investigative pressure.

As I understand the recent ruling overturning the $500M judgment against DJT, the court still held that he had committed the offense of fraud as he was charged, and regardless of how common his actions were and the total absence of any harm having been caused by them.

The answer to the question is therefore not as obvious as many might think.

Beyond habitual speeding, I'm pretty clean. We can't even cheat on taxes as the standard deduction covers us. We would bore an investigator to tears.

The only times I've ever been in a courthouse were for jury duty. The only times I've ever been in the Sheriff's office were when I was applying for or renewing my concealed carry permit. Even my driving record is empty.

I just saw a story on the news that a guy who threw a green dido on the court at a WNBA game has been charged with 10 crimes! The "Land of the Free," where we can find a charge to ruin your life for just about anything you can imagine.

Depends on what they’re asking.

For the most part, I think I would be fine.

As far as a bunch of shitbags asking me a lot of questions I may not wish to answer, I could easily and politely tell them to fuck their mothers five ways from Sunday and not lose a moments sleep.

There is a book out there that states the average American violates multiple federal laws every day. After working in businesses in the environmental and nuclear industries, and my wife working in the financial industry, not only do I believe it, but everyone underestimates the sheer number of laws they break every day. Those of us on this website know about gun laws, but do you know all the federal vehicle laws you may be breaking? Or the laws on water usage and diversion?

About 3 years ago we sold our house to a developer who wanted the lot, and we had about 4 months to get out. We put an offer in on a house, and for sale next door was a small older house on a big lot with trees that provided shade to the house we wanted to live in. So to control those trees we bought that house as a rental.

We backed out of the first house (wife changed her mind), but the smaller house was a cash offer and we went through with it. No mortgage on it, but I have no doubt that if we had taken out a mortgage we would have said it was out primary residence, as it was the only house we would have owned at the time. We did tell State Farm that it was our primary residence for homeowners insurance, although we never lived there.(we might have had to if we didn’t find something else). We later found another house to buy, and did say primary residence for mortgage and insurance purposes. And it took State Farm about six months to decide that they both weren’t primary residences and they didn’t insure rental properties.

Insurance fraud? I don’t think so. But certainly could look bad in a certain light.

I've been before The Man under extreme scrutiny.

Turned out, I'm boringly squeaky clean.

If you think I'm going to respond to such a question on an open forum, you're sadly mistaken.

Oh. Wait...

I am sure I could be indicted along with a ham sandwich.

But for anything legitimate, I am squeaky clean.

I lost count of my background checks.

It’s not only if you are squeaky clean but for Cook, who is in a position of authority, and should know better it was a flagrant violation of the law for her own personal benefit.

Hang her high as an example!

I did mortgages for years. Lawyers and people in the mortgage biz were the only ones who read what they were signing. At closing there is a stack of papers. And most people are signing page after page with not reading or. That being said I am not a Federal Reserve Governor, Senator or AG of a state. I also do not own a 2nd home or rental home. I have also never been deceptive about my marital status.
But overall I’m a pretty squeaky clean, never did dope never cheated on my taxes or anything else. Yeah I’ve got speeding tickets. But that’s it.

They can dig for months.

A prosecutor is going to prosecute.

We've all done something, and if they can't find it they'll make it up.

Unintentionally carried into a PO? Been in the gray zone on a tax deduction? Driven while impaired but probably not over the legal limit? Said something stupid that years later would be terribly embarrassing if made public?

Does something that has long exceeded the statute of limitations count against me?

quote:

Originally posted by ElToro:
I did mortgages for years. Lawyers and people in the mortgage biz were the only ones who read what they were signing.

My spouse and I drove the settlement agency insane on each of the three mortgages we took out together. We read EVERY page. It took hours and hours, but their attorney said we were the smartest buyers he’d ever met, taking the time to understand exactly what we were doing.

Here is the classic: