Mar-a-Lago, did Trump get away with insurance fraud?

[my2¢]

An AP investigation last year showed Trump received a $17 million insurance payment for Mar-a-Lago damage in 2005 after hurricanes Frances, Jeanne and Wilma hit in two years.

Yet Trump’s butler told the AP the damage amounted to some lost roof tiles and some flattened trees.

Town of Palm Beach also recorded no permits issued for major repairs during that period.

Read more: Trump's Mar-a-Lago in line for a battering from Hurricane Irma | Metro News
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Imagine the statute of limitations is well past and I'm not after Trump's scalp. For you folks down that way at the time was this any sort of an issue?

Just might be an interesting situation that'll be watched with Hurricane Irma on the horizon. Being a fan of film noir I can imagine some interesting plot possibilities.

​

 

[EvilCat Breath]

That's it! Trump invented Irma to totally renovate Mar A Lago!

 

[tycho1572]

How would a butler know anything about the ins. policy or extent of damages? lol

 

[tycho1572]

This thread reminded me of a vid I recently watched.....

 

[ABikerSailor]

You know, I've looked at that building, and yeah, it IS built like a brick shithouse and more than likely is able to withstand the winds.

However...........................

It's location so close to the ocean, as well as it's many open spaces make it a very good candidate to be flooded, and I really don't think that all the windows and doors are watertight.

According to the weather guessers, Irma has slowed down a bit, and when it's due to hit Florida in the afternoon, the storm surge is going to come right around high tide, with a 10 to 12 ft. storm surge on top of the high tide.

 

[waltky]

The Donald's got it covered...

Mar-A-Lago Has A Flood Insurance Policy Through The Federal Government
September 9, 2017 | WASHINGTON ― Federally insured property in Florida is in the crosshairs of potentially catastrophic Hurricane Irma ― including President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach.

The property has a flood insurance policy through the National Flood Insurance Program, a Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesperson told HuffPost. The program provides affordable insurance in flood-prone zones where private insurers have traditionally refused to insure properties because they’re so vulnerable. The Mar-a-Lago club’s policy, wh/i]ich is insured to the Trump Organization and Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, is not subsidized and is classified at a full-risk rate for the applicable flood zone, the FEMA spokesperson said.

A property covered at the “full-risk” rate means that its owner is paying a rate that reflects the full risk of flooding up to a certain coverage amount. Older properties can be “subsidized,” meaning their rates do not necessarily reflect the full risk for those properties. The 1968-era National Flood Insurance Program, or NFIP, offers a mix of rates. The insurance program’s authorization was set to expire at the end of this month, but Trump signed legislation on Friday that temporarily extends it. NFIP as a whole has been criticized for not charging enough to cover the expected costs of liabilities. It also consistently does not bring in enough money to pay out properties it insures, and owes around $25 billion to the U.S. Treasury. Based on policies that they went into effect on Aug. 31, 2016, the program is projected to have a one-year shortfall of $1.4 billion, according to a Congressional Budget Office report published this month.

President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago mansion is shown with shutters on the windows Friday after a mandatory evacuation order went into effect on the barrier island of Palm Beach, Florida.​

Some critics say the program benefits affluent people who live on beachfront property, essentially allowing them to live in places that are at a high risk of being damaged. “If [NFIP] was a regular insurance company, they would have been in receivership,” Burl Daniel, an insurance expert witness from Texas, told HuffPost. “But it’s a political football because of the people who live on the coast.” “The program was already in trouble” before Hurricanes Harvey and Irma began approaching the U.S., said Karen O’Neill, an associate professor at Rutgers University who studies how policies about land and water affect government power. “It became super in trouble after Katrina, and Sandy was another blow,” O’Neill said.

Mar-a-Lago, Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach and Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter are all closed in advance of Irma, a Trump Organization spokesperson said. (She did not respond to the question about insurance.) Irma, one of the largest storms ever recorded, is expected to hit Florida this weekend. Mar-a-Lago has weathered hurricanes before. According to an Associated Press investigation, Trump claimed that he received a $17 million insurance payout for the estate in 2005 due to damage from a series of storms, but said he pocketed some of the money instead of using it to rebuild. Trump once boasted in a deposition that he had a “very good insurance policy,” apparently in reference to private insurance. (The FEMA spokesperson declined to comment on whether Mar-a-Lago was also insured by NFIP at the time, as that is “not publicly available information.”)

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[Muhammed]

An AP investigation last year showed Trump received a $17 million insurance payment for Mar-a-Lago damage in 2005 after hurricanes Frances, Jeanne and Wilma hit in two years.

Yet Trump’s butler told the AP the damage amounted to some lost roof tiles and some flattened trees.

Town of Palm Beach also recorded no permits issued for major repairs during that period.

Read more: Trump's Mar-a-Lago in line for a battering from Hurricane Irma | Metro News
​

Imagine the statute of limitations is well past and I'm not after Trump's scalp. For you folks down that way at the time was this any sort of an issue?

Just might be an interesting situation that'll be watched with Hurricane Irma on the horizon. Being a fan of film noir I can imagine some interesting plot possibilities.

​

Do you know how much it costs to replace a flattened tree?

I used to live with a girl who owned a landscaping company. Sometimes she would install trees. And she charged a lot of money to do that. There is a lot of work involved when you transplant a tree if you want it to survive.

 

[deanrd]

How would a butler know anything about the ins. policy or extent of damages? lol

Yea, stupid him. Being right there and all.

 

[deanrd]

Look at these right wingers. It's like they have Trump Defense Derangement Syndrome. All you have to do is question anything Trump and right away, it's attack, attack, attack.

 

[BULLDOG]

How would a butler know anything about the ins. policy or extent of damages? lol

Why not? Alfred knows where the secret entrance to the bat cave is.

 

[my2¢]

I'm still no more than 50-50 on whether the story is on the up-and-up.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

So you're telling me the insurance company just wrote Trump a 17 mill check without surveying the damage?

Anyone who believes that is a complete imbecile.