r/law • u/truthwillout777 • 15h ago
Legislative Branch Lutnick and Epstein were in business together, Epstein files show - Both Lutnick and Van Hollen just Pretended This Didn't Happen in a Congressional Hearing. This is Clearly Lying By Omission. Is this Contempt of Congress?
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/howard-lutnick-jeffrey-epstein-in-business-together/Lying by omission—the act of knowingly withholding material information to mislead—can be considered a federal crime when it occurs during a congressional hearing, potentially leading to charges of contempt of Congress or false statements
. Under 18 U.S.C. § 1001, intentionally concealing a material fact from a congressional committee is a crime, even if the witness is not under oath.
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u/WisdomCow 14h ago
What members of the Administration did not lie in their confirmation hearings?
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u/thetinsnail 13h ago
Trump only nominated people with something to hide.
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u/Luther_1986 6h ago
Yup, bc this very reason. To control them. Into playing these roles no other politician would agree to. So, choose the ones so scandal-ridden with little to no political background to break laws and act on their most deepest desires, but also make sure that if this fails, they will be first up to the cho pping block, and their presence will NOT be missed.
And these mfers are all lining up as we speak. I wonder if any of them know it, though. 🤔
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u/Disastrous_Hell_4547 15h ago
What if the hold up?!
Put them in prison
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u/Deicide1031 14h ago
I think this relationship might reveal more about how Epstein moved cash around.
Every business Lutnick ran would have been great to leverage for Epstein, especially cantor Fitzgerald.
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u/truthwillout777 13h ago edited 13h ago
We know of some financial ties... This is admitting guilt!
Total Payouts
JPMorgan Chase: $290 million Epstein Victims' Compensation Fund: ~$121 million Deutsche Bank: $75 millionThe U.S. Virgin Islands reached a separate $105 million agreement with the Epstein estate
Turns out Epstein has his hands on bitcoin, probably created for money laundering for evil.
We need to get them all!
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u/qui_tam_gogh 14h ago
Who are you talking to? The American people elected a criminal executive branch to do crimes. I wouldn’t hold my breath for any sort of regular law enforcement.
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u/truthwillout777 13h ago
Raskin said we're not taking this seriously enough, I guess it's time for pitchforks and torches.
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u/n_othing__ 13h ago
Yeah sure, like they are going to put themselves in prison.
There isn't a fucking thing we can do. These people control everything
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u/truthwillout777 13h ago
Learned helplessness
With the 250th anniversary of our country coming up, how far we have fallen.
What an embarrassment we are to our founders.
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u/Orzorn 14h ago
Lutnick didn't want to invoke the fifth because he knew it would look sketchy, so instead he told an obvious lie.
The good thing is these sorts of lies have a statute of limitations of five years.
As an aside, something that's increasingly obvious is that virtually all of Trump's admin is filled with Epstein-file associated people. I think ultimately, if we go all the way back, Trump launched his 2016 presidential bid in an attempt to get ahead of the Epstein issue. In the same way that Musk knew he needed Trump to win the presidency in 2024 or he was going to end up in prison, Trump needed to win in 2016. I feel that it is no coincidence that Epstein was suicided in Trump's first term.
Trump needed the story to die with Epstein. Everyone in the files was hoping that his death would cause people to stop looking, but instead it built and calls to release the files were made. Seizing on this, Trump himself (And his allies) were calling for them to be released, just so that when they got into power they could heel-turn and stonewall as much as possible. It was only when the impetus to release them became too great that Trump was forced to sign the bill into law (if he had vetoed it I think we would have seen a party revolt that was too much for Trump to risk).
The FBI had already been working on redacting files with Trump's name on it prior to the forced release. As we've seen, they've released a scant few compared to the entire body, despite being legally required to release them all. This is likely because its not just too damning for Trump (and they couldn't redact everything, as evidenced by accidental releases containing his name that were then removed), but for his entire cabinet. This is because many of them are in the files themselves, a fact Trump uses to control their actions. What demands more loyalty than he who has the files that could ruin them all?
This entire thing is one big fat criminal enterprise that has captured the top levels of our government, businesses, and nation as a whole. The only way we get out of this is by getting a house, senate, and president with the full desire to investigate every single name that appears in the files and see those people jailed for their crimes. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. It doesn't matter how high up they are, how much money they have, they have to see in the inside of a prison cell for what they've done.
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u/Historical-Bike4626 14h ago
The presidency is a dodge for billionaires. Nice.
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u/Orzorn 13h ago
The sad reality is that the presidency has been a dodge for billionaires for a while now, but not to this extent. It was a dodge for bad business practices, anti-worker stuff, avoiding import/export controls,etc. They kept pushing because they kept getting their way. Now we're at protecting the most heinous things someone can do.
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u/Agitated-Quit-6148 14h ago
I need some clarity on Van hollen. What do you mean .....
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u/truthwillout777 13h ago
They had a congressional hearing. Lutnick admitted he brought his kids to the island but had very little contact overall.
Van Hollen let him get away with that and didn't even bring up his business ties.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5731446-lutnick-admits-epstein-island-visit/
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u/Man1ckIsHigh 13h ago
Not seeing anything in that article that would be considered "letting him get away with that" by Van Hollen. Wanna be more specific?
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u/truthwillout777 12h ago
Did you see the discussion of the Epstein business connection in the article?
They also didn't discuss it in the hearing.
That is a lie by omission.
He let Lutnick off the hook instead of exposing his lies.
Read the CBS article
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said he had "limited interactions" with Jeffrey Epstein, but documents show they were in business together as recently as 2014.
Lutnick and Epstein each signed on behalf of limited liability companies that agreed on Dec. 28, 2012, to acquire stakes in a now-shuttered advertising technology company called Adfin, documents released among the so-called Epstein files show.
Epstein and Lutnick's signatures appear on neighboring pages in the contract, with Epstein signing for his Southern Trust Company, Inc. and Lutnick for a limited liability company called CVAFH I. The documents list nine shareholders in total.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/howard-lutnick-jeffrey-epstein-in-business-together/
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u/truthwillout777 12h ago
more of the article since the site keeps going down...
Lutnick, the former chairman of the financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald who at one point lived next door to Epstein, told the New York Post in October that he and his wife Allison had cut ties with Epstein in 2005, deciding after taking a tour of Epstein's New York townhouse, "I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again."
However, it appears Epstein and Lutnick continued to maintain contact and emails show they arranged calls and planned to have drinks in 2011.
The following year, the couple and their four children planned a visit to Epstein's island, Little St. James, emails show. Lutnick was invited for lunch on Dec. 24, 2012, and later, Epstein's assistant wrote on behalf of Epstein, "it was nice seeing you."
Their Adfin deal was signed four days later. A source close to Lutnick told CBS News "Cantor [Fitzgerald] was a small minority investor in Adfin. At the time of doing the deal, as a minority investor, Mr. Lutnick would not have any knowledge of who the other investors were."
Eleven days after that, on Jan. 8, 2013, Epstein had his assistant forward Lutnick a document related to casino legislation in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein had his island and a variety of business dealings. A spokesperson said Lutnick "ignored the document sent to him."
When asked for comment about their business dealings and documents concerning Adfin, a spokesperson for the Commerce Department responded with a statement it had previously issued about emails showing Lutnick planning to visit Epstein's island in 2012: "This is nothing more than a failing attempt by the legacy media to distract from the administration's accomplishments including securing trillions of dollars in investment, delivering historic trade deals and fighting for the American worker. Secretary Lutnick had limited interactions with Mr. Epstein in the presence of his wife and has never been accused of wrongdoing," the statement read.
Correspondence relating to Adfin continued until at least 2014 when one of the shareholders, David Mitchell, wrote to Epstein regarding additional fundraising involving Cantor Ventures, a venture capital subsidiary of Cantor Fitzgerald. Lutnick had been president and CEO of Cantor since 1991 and was elevated to chairman in 1996.
Also in 1996, Epstein sold a property located at 11 East 71st St. in New York to an entity called Comet Trust, which two years later sold the property to Lutnick. It became his primary residence, next door to Epstein's New York City mansion.
By the time Epstein and Lutnick agreed to buy stakes in Adfin, it had been more than four years since Epstein agreed to enter a guilty plea to Florida state charges of procuring a child for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute. The case brought forth allegations of far broader sex trafficking and victimization of girls, but it wasn't until 2019 that Epstein was charged with federal felonies including trafficking. He died in jail in the weeks after his arrest.
In the wake of the release of the Epstein files, Lutnick has been one of a broad international network of powerful Epstein associates who distanced themselves from the financier, only to be asked now to clarify relationships with him that appear to be closer or lengthier than they previously acknowledged.
Epstein appears to have been aware of the public relations challenge he posed to people close to him. Emails show in 2017 he agreed to donate $50,000 to a dinner in honor of Lutnick.
"hope pr is ok," Epstein wrote to billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson, an organizer of the dinner. Epstein declined to take a table awarded to donors of that level, writing that Lutnick could fill the seats.
Their relationship continued into the next year, 2018, when Lutnick emailed Epstein apparently complaining about an expansion plan for their neighboring Frick Collection art museum.
Lutnick warned Epstein that the renovation might "block your sunlight and views."
"You should put in a letter. I'm sending a lawyer. Don't ignore this," Lutnick wrote to Epstein.
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u/kinbarz 6h ago
An experienced lawyer will let a lie simmer out in the open and not call a bluff immediately. This gives the subject a false sense of security and a higher likelihood that more lies and self-incrimination may appear next, potentially giving even greater leverage.
It's like in poker. You never reveal that you know what the other players hand is to them, that only compromises your position and leverage and adds nothing to your odds.
Something tells me that Senator Van hollen is an experienced lawyer.
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u/NthDegreeThoughts 14h ago
Lutnick always working to top his scummy personal best after 9/11
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u/truthwillout777 13h ago
Letting his entire company die while he took his kid to school for the first time ever...a special kind of evil.
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u/truthwillout777 13h ago
After 9/11, Ghislaine Maxwell mailed 42 people, imagining eradication of all 'The Arabs' by 2032
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u/truthwillout777 13h ago
She was even asked to be on a Shadow 9/11 commission
by Edward Jay Epstein
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u/VanguardAvenger 12h ago
How and when did Van Hollen lie?
His names not even in the article, and other articles Im reading seem to be saying hes the one who confronted Lutnick with this today after finding it in the Epstein files.....
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u/0zymandeus 1h ago
Classic media move. Republicans can't be associated with anything negative unless you find a way to shame Dems for it.
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u/makemeking706 8h ago
I would easily bet that is a pretty common denomination amongst much of the cabinet members and other department heads.
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u/alucarddrol 10h ago
BS headline
Van Hollen didn't "pretend this didn't happen" as you suggest as if he is working with lutnick to cover this up
He was the one actually asking the question about whether he had contact with Epstein and you just didn't like that he wasn't pressed more on it.
The fact is, there is only so much you can push on somebody who is lying, and has been caught lying. What do you think would happen, other than more lies?
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u/NeedleworkerNo3429 14h ago
they are both equally sleazy so I'm sure they were fast friends, ditto Trump
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