united-states fraud finance theft
Do Donald Trump&#39;s actions constitute embezzlement?
<p>This question is inspired by <a href="https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/52122/did-donald-trump-move-donated-money-to-his-business-accounts">this other question</a>.</p>
<p>In that question, it was written that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Donald Trump moved more than $200,000 donated to his Make America Great Again PAC into his own private business accounts, according to an analysis of his federal filings.</p>
<p>The money was moved in February, a month after Mr Trump left office. Money donated to PACs is meant to be spent solely on campaign efforts.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Assuming that the claim is true (which is disputed), does this act constitute embezzlement?</p>

<p>Embezzlement is criminally prohibited by <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/666" rel="noreferrer">18 USC 666</a>, and this <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archives/jm/criminal-resource-manual-1005-embezzlement" rel="noreferrer">DoJ manual page</a> on what is embezzlement cites the answer in Moore v. United States, 160 U.S. 268 that</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Embezzlement is the fraudulent appropriation of property by a person
to whom such property has been entrusted, or into whose hands it has
lawfully come. It differs from larceny in that the original taking was
lawful, or with the consent of the owner, while in larceny the
felonious intent must have existed at the time of the taking</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Following other case law, the elements of the crime are</p>
<blockquote>
<p>there was a trust or fiduciary relationship between the defendant and
the private organization or State or local government agency;</p>
<p>the property came into the possession or care of the defendant by
virtue of his/her employment;</p>
<p>the defendant's dealings with the property constituted a fraudulent
conversion or appropriation of it to his/her own use; and</p>
<p>the defendant acted with the intent to deprive the owner of the use of
this property.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.fec.gov/data/disbursements/?data_type=efiling&amp;committee_id=C00580100" rel="noreferrer">This page</a> lists over 32,000 disbursements; <a href="https://www.fec.gov/data/disbursements/?data_type=efiling&amp;committee_id=C00580100&amp;disbursement_description=rent" rel="noreferrer">filtering just for rent</a> give over 2,400 disbursements, a number of which are recent and made to some business with Trump in the name (Trump Tower LLC etc).</p>
<p>The conversion would have to be fraudulent to be embezzlement. There actually is not any evidence provided that a transfer violated FEC regulations (we have dates, amounts, and recipient), so we would have to speculate about what else is true. There are processed disbursement images up to 10/21/2020 such as <a href="https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202104219445358829" rel="noreferrer">this receipt</a> for 3 charges for food and lodging paid to Trump Hotel Collection. In fact this payment was made by Donald J Trump for President, Inc. although the search term was the aforementioned PAC: I will overlook that anomaly.</p>
<p><a href="https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?C00580100" rel="noreferrer">This is the FEC page</a> on that committee (you have to follow the committee number because the name was also used in the 2016 campaign but was terminated). There vast numbers of filings linked there, but nothing that I saw indicates that Trump is in any sense an employee of the organization, so there is no actual evidence that there were any &quot;Trump actions&quot;. First, it would have to be shown that there were Trump actions. Second, it would have to be show that the action was <em>fraudulent</em>. Technical misappropriation is not fraudulent. <a href="https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/keeping-records/misappropriated-funds/" rel="noreferrer">This FEC page</a> describes the safe harbor provisions for misappropriation. <a href="https://www.fec.gov/updates/safe-harbor-embezzlement-misreporting/" rel="noreferrer">This page</a> specifically addresses embezzlement. Although they use the word &quot;embezzlement&quot;, they do not purport that misappropriation constituted embezzlement as defined above, to point out that civil penalties may result from violation, see <a href="https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?node=pt11.1.104&amp;rgn=div5" rel="noreferrer">11 CFR Part 104</a>. Ultimately, the legal propriety of the disbursements depends on its purpose: <a href="https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/making-disbursements/personal-use/" rel="noreferrer">here</a> is what the FEC say about illegal conversion for personal use (food for daily consumption, mortgage or rent for personal residence, tuition...).</p>
<p>The available evidence does not even suggest embezzlement.</p>

<p>Embezzlement is the action of an employee who, having access to or control over funds or things of value as a part of employment, improperly takes or gains possession of them, or converts them to personal use, or the use of another without proper authorization from the employer, with an intent to deprive the employer of the funds or their value.</p>
<p>As Trump was not an employee of the PAC, he could not have embezzled from it.</p>
<p>It is perfectly legal for a campaign or PAC to pay a corporation for goods or services used by the campaign. It is not uncommon for a campaign to select businesses affiliated with or favored by the candidate. If the payments were for value received by the campaign, there is probably no legal violation. If the payments were in excess of value properly received by the campaign, then there might have been a violation of US Federal campaign laws or their implementing regulations. Determining that would take detailed inspection of the records, noting what was paid for and what was received, and whether  a reasonable price was paid in each case. Determining that would perhaps start from the filings referenced in the linked question and news story, but would probably need related records from various parts of the Trump Organization and perhaps from others.</p>
<p>If it were determined that there was a violation of law or regulation, one would still need to determine just who was responsible and whether it was a civil violation or a crime. It is not automatically the case that everything done by the Trump campaign or the various Trump businesses is his personal responsibility. And there would need to be a legal process, quite probably a trial, to fix legal responsibility and impose any penalties. That hasn't happened yet, although it might in the future.</p>
<p>Until someone does the kind of detailed investigation I described, it is not possible to say with assurance if any laws were violated, or who might have violated them. It seems that such investigations are in progress. But I do not see how they could lead to a charge of embezzlement by Trump.</p>
