The MeidasTouch Podcast - Could Trump NFT Announcement be a MONEY LAUNDERING Front?

Episode Date: December 19, 2022

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on how the Trump NFT rollout has the hallmarks of a money laundering scheme. Read Kurt Eichenwalds report here: https://threats.substack.com/p/trumps-trading-card-grift-is-worse Shop Meidas Merch at: https://store.meidastouch.com Join us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/meidastouch Remember to subscribe to ALL the Meidas Media Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://pod.link/1510240831 Legal AF: https://pod.link/1580828595 The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://pod.link/1595408601 The Influence Continuum: https://pod.link/1603773245 Kremlin File: https://pod.link/1575837599 Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://pod.link/1530639447 The Weekend Show: https://pod.link/1612691018 The Tony Michaels Podcast: https://pod.link/1561049560 American Psyop: https://pod.link/1652143101 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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I'm Ben Mycelis from the Midas Touch Network. I want to talk about why this Trump NFT announcement and what's transpired since the announcement has all of the hallmarks of a money laundering scheme. Now, to be very clear, I have no evidence supporting that that is actually what is taking place here. However, it is consistent with conduct that people who engage in money laundering do engage in. So let me break it down for you this way. So first and foremost, we know that the entities involved in this transaction, one is called NFT International LLC, the other is called CIC Digital LLC. And so CIC Digital LLC, believed to stand for Commander-in-Chief. Digital LLC, believed to be created by people affiliated and close to Donald Trump. That entity, CIC, was created in Delaware approximately nine months ago. And under Delaware law, the actual names of the officers and directors do not need to be listed to the public. Also, creating LLCs in Delaware allows the control to be held by a single shareholder and provides a number of other advantages to businesses that

may want to keep a lower profile. NFT International LLC is also a pretty shady, ambiguous group. And NFT International LLC purchased the license from CIC Digital LLC to produce these Trump NFTs that are ridiculous. The photos of Trump in the tuxedo, the photo of Trump hugging an elephant, the photo of Trump in a space suit, which Trump says, these were iconic moments of my life in my presidency. I mean, it's completely absurd. And he was selling 45,000 of those NFTs at $99 each. And so in a traditional licensing arrangement, NFT International would normally pay CIC Digital LLC, which here would be the rights holder of Donald Trump's name, image, and likeness. You'd pay in advance, which is usually a significant upfront payment, and then you'd also pay a royalty. And so if you do the math here and you sold all 45 000 that would equal about 4.5 million uh as part of the nft transaction nft international

llc makes an additional 10 percent if these are sold again every time these nfts are sold again but just if you want to use a number about 4.5 million you You want to add another two or 3 million based on other sales of this changing hands. And you go at the top end, what would they estimate their projections of this to make with these first 45,000 at the highest end, somewhere between five and $10 million. So what are you talking about? The type of advance that Donald Trump took here to be utterly humiliated with this ridiculous and absurd announcement, maybe $3 or $4 million advance, and then a royalty going forward.

But the max this endeavor is going to make is about $10 million on its best day dripping wet. So going back to NFT International LLC, and you look at the website that is provided on the Collect Trump Cards website, and that address goes to 6300 Sagewood Drive in Park City, Utah. That is supposed to be the offices of NFT International LLC. But if you go and you look at what is SEC 6300 Sagewood Drive in Park City, Utah, it is a strip mall. And you go to this specific address, it's actually just a mailbox in a UPS store within the strip mall that they're claiming to be the offices of NFT International LLC. So then you look, is there other potential addresses of NFT International LLC? And there

is. There are two alternative addresses, both in Cheyenne, Wyoming. And so one is on Pioneer Ave and the other one is in Thombs Ave, both in Cheyenne, Wyoming. And the first one on Pioneer Ave, it's in this building that has a lot of other businesses that have also engaged in shady dealing. Same things about this address on Thombs Ave. Here, let me just pull up the photo. that have also engaged in shady dealing. Same things about this address on Thomes Ave. Here, let me just pull up the photo. This is the Pioneer Ave one. For all those on audio, we're just showing this on the YouTube right now.

It's just like a random building in Cheyenne, Wyoming. And then here's the other one on Thomes, which is like a small, almost looks like a vacant home in Wyoming. And so when you look at the type of people who have used these addresses before, there's one organization called New York Machinery that's also utilized this same structure of using this company called Wyoming Corporate Services that then kind of hides the identity of the businesses. And it provides for one individual who could be listed as a publicly facing person, but who doesn't actually run the underlying businesses. And so the same structure that's being used for the Trump NFTs was also used, for example, by a company called New York Machinery, which is ironically a New Jersey based company, which was caught lying about the parts that it was selling with all of the Pentagon certifications, but it didn't.

And it seems that New York machinery was really acting as a front for a Turkish company and Turkish arms dealer, and it did not actually conform. In addition, with respect to New York machinery, one of its principals also had pled guilty to wire fraud. One of the old Ukrainian prime ministers, the very corrupt Lazarenko, he was affiliated in some FTC for engaging in a number of marketing schemes and scams and also use these front companies, about 18 front companies, to also try to hide who's behind it. So when I started at the beginning and I said it has the hallmarks of money laundering, it doesn't mean at all that that's actually what's taking place here. But if you wanted to do business the way most businesses would like to do business, you do it transparently or at least somewhat transparently and you list who's behind these entities. So kind of hallmark number one is that there is a concerted effort to try to hide what is going on

here from the public. There's misdirection, there's shell companies within shell companies to try to hide what is taking place here. Another sign as well is that we know terms of crypto and NFTs, that that specific form of currency has been used more frequently as a form of, as a way of money laundering, as a way to get around regulators, as a way to get around the banking system that may have flags and call things out that look suspicious. So we have that background about crypto as well. We know that Donald Trump is desperate. We know that he's running out of money. We know that banks don't want to do business with him anymore.

We know that the Trump organization has been convicted of 17 felony counts. We know one of the suspicious timings of this too is that NFTs in general, like its ability to be sold and its currency on the market, both literally and just kind of figuratively, is down 97% since January. So it's like the worst time to really want to launch an NFT. The products here that Donald Trump is selling, I mean, they're horrific. It's horrible. Even his own base was mocking him. But then, according to OpenSea, which keeps track of the sale, not the identity of who's buying the actual physical identity or name of the people, but the fact that it appears that the 45000 NFTs were sold. Now, it wouldn't necessarily surprise me that still Trump would be able to

grift off of his followers and sell 45,000 of these, as embarrassing as they are. We've done another video here on the Midas Touch Network showing that his right-wing supporters, even his most fervent supporters, thought this was ridiculous. But let's assume that he'll be able to find 45,000 people or just less who are willing to buy these at $99. I could buy that proposition. But here, according to the website of Collect Trump Cards, in order for you to be involved in this, it's not as simple as just giving them your credit card. You have to give them your credit card address and then you have to open up a crypto wallet

and then make the transaction using your crypto wallet. That process, I would find it hard to believe that the average Trump supporter will be able to so rapidly within less than 24 hours of it being announced, open up a crypto wallet and then make that transaction. So let's just kind of recap what we have so far. We have an immediate sale using a crypto wallet, using crypto wallets. We have the licensor and the licensee both hiding their corporate identities. We know that NFT International LLCs got a history, got these addresses and works with a company that has a history of working with other companies with shady dealings.

You have him going in the crypto space at a really strange and peculiar time. And so then the question is, is this really about the crypto or is this a way to move money while Donald Trump has this independent monitor in New York, retired Judge Barbara Jones, who's looking at all of these transactions? Would CIC Digital LLC qualify as a related entity where this type of transaction would need to be provided and disclosed to the New York Attorney General Letitia James as part of the injunction order. I think it absolutely does. I think what we will see in the next week or two, and I think New York Attorney General Letitia James is already focused on this, is that this has all of the red flags of a way to try to launder money, to try to move money around and conceal it and not raise any, to try to avoid

raising red flags. But in doing so, it has raised all of these major red flags just based on the structure that I provided to you. And so you have this independent monitor, Barbara Jones. I think she immediately needs to request information about this transaction, about the identity of CIC Digital LLC, about this deal with nft international llc you know and is this a way and this these are questions i don't have the answers to them but these are questions is this a way that foreign entities are able to buy these nfts it'll happen in a way that the identities are hidden and concealed. It's one of the major problems. It's why Bitcoin and why crypto is so fraught with money laundering. Can people who are trying to pay Trump and Trump trying to extract money from people here, but more likely abroad, are they the ones ultimately participating in this scheme? Is this scheme a bigger, broader money laundering scam? And the structures that I've provided,

the overall shadiness of it, the timing, the fact that the sale closed so quickly, it has all of those hallmarks. And again, these are just red flags. I don't have the actual evidence. That's because I haven't done discovery. I don't have subpoena power. And crypto is intentionally done very secretively. But I wanted to give you my perspective. And again, my perspective was one of the counsel working on the case, involving one of the largest Ponzi schemes

in California history, where we worked as receivers counsel for the Securities and Exchange Commission and saw how they moved money around there. And again, has the red flags, but ultimately we will see. But wanted to give you my opinion on what could be happening. And I want to give a special shout out, of course, to Kurt Eichenwald.

Everybody check out his sub stack. It's called The Threats Within, a Kurt Eichenwald sub stack. You spell his last name E-I-C-H-E-N-W-A-L-D. He has done impeccable research on this, and a lot of that research I've relied on in this reporting. Give a big shout out to Kurt Eichenwald. I'm Ben Mycelis from the Midas Touch Network. Hit the subscribe button, and also check us out at patreon.com slash Midas Touch, P-A-T-R-E-O-N.com slash Midas Touch. We have lots of exclusive content you can only get on Midas Touch, but most importantly, help us grow this independent media platform. Until next time, I'm Ben Myselis. At Midas Touch, we are unapologetically pro-democracy and we demand justice and

accountability. That's why we're spreading our message to convict 45. That's right. Gear up right now with your convict 45 tees and pins at store.midastouch.com. That's store.midastouch.com.