'Rise' in white collar crimes: Expert warns of 'Golden Age of Scams' under Trump
Sharing a series of articles published in The Prospect Tuesday, journalist and author David Dayen noted that the Trump administration has effectively ended white-collar crime enforcement, warning that "ripoffs, deceptions, and cons will rise as a result to part the public from their money."
Titled "The Golden Age of Scams," one of the pieces in the series, written by Dayen, who serves as the publication's executive editor, highlighted how President Donald Trump’s second term "will unleash dishonesty and abuse across the economy."
"Investigations into any business executive with even a passing relationship to Trump have been scotched, with beneficiaries ranging from the richest man in the world to the husband of the education secretary," the article noted.
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"Over 100 active enforcement actions have been either paused or dropped across the executive branch. In March, Trump donor Trevor Milton was pardoned after being sentenced for lying to investors; in April, Trump issued a corporate pardon to BitMEX, a crypto exchange that had pled guilty to failing to prevent money laundering," it adds.
Dayen, author of the book Chain of Title: How Three Ordinary Americans Uncovered Wall Street's Great Foreclosure Fraud, further wrote in the piece that sectors of legal oversight — ranging from restrictions on American firms bribing foreign officials, to efforts aimed at curbing corruption and workplace discrimination — have largely disappeared.
He added that a sweeping deregulation effort, overwhelmingly favorable to corporate interests, is on the horizon.
Roughly $50 million in contributions to Trump’s inauguration came from corporations facing ongoing federal probes or litigation, per the report. This raises serious doubts that these cases will proceed to trial or that the involved executives will face consequences.
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Another article in the series written by journalist Jacob Silverman warned that the Trump administration "is removing every financial guardrail from crypto, in order to enrich the first family and its tech and finance allies while destabilizing the economy."
"Since Trump introduced his meme coin, many observers (including me) have warned that it is an unprecedented vehicle for personal enrichment and potentially for bribery," Silverman wrote.
Trump’s aggressive efforts to roll back regulations on the cryptocurrency market have sparked major controversy, particularly as he and his sons have rapidly grown their involvement in crypto enterprises.
Ethics advocates, Democratic lawmakers, and even some Republicans are sounding the alarm over potential conflicts of interest. Much of the outrage centers on Trump’s promotion of a self-branded meme coin called $Trump — a digital token with no real utility.
Critics were especially concerned after Trump hosted an exclusive dinner last week at his Virginia golf resort for the top 220 purchasers of the coin, along with a private event for the top 25 investors.
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