Oct 13 2006

How Does Reid Get Paid Twice On Land Deal?

Published by at 1:47 pm under All General Discussions,Reid's Land Deals

strong>Update: Reader SBD has lots more on Reid at this location – check it out. – End Update

Hugh Hewitt is just ripping up the drive-by media by giving them a “Journalism for Dummies: Shady Land Deals” tutorial on what to look for Reid’s land-scam. One item of note is this question that may now be answered:

When Senator Reid and his wife sold the property to Patrick Lane LLC in which he received an interest in return, did he receive any cash at the same time, or any time that year, in partial consideration for his sale of the land to the partnership?

Well, a link hit the site just now (thanks again Rush) that may have some of the answer to this question, because Patrick Lane LLC must have compensated the Reids for the land it purchased in 2004.:

Reid reported that he sold a piece of property and a 47 percent interest in an adjoining piece of land in January 2004 for a price that he reported as between $1 million and $5 million.

Clark County records indicate that Reid was involved in a sale completed in January 2004 of 4.73 acres on Patrick Lane just west of Fort Apache Road, south of Spring Valley. Records show the buyer was Patrick Lane LLC, whose manager was listed as Jay Brown, an attorney and longtime Reid friend and associate.

Records available Friday did not indicate sales prices. Reid declined through a spokeswoman to detail the transaction or verify the county information.

Reid’s profits from the transaction were reinvested in a Wells Fargo money market fund and in bond offerings, his aide confirmed from his financial report.

Now legally, any additional value from this point on ($400K was the final sale price) would be in Park Lane LLC, not to the Reid’s directly. But interestingly enough, Reid did record how much the property SHOULD be worth since the rezoning that took place only days prior to the sale of the property! Did Harry Reid tip his hand? If he sold it for $400K why list its value for what would be the selling price two years later? Hugh’s complete overview of this rocketing scandal is here, and it doesn’t look too good for Sen Reid. He was not very good at hiding what was going on, and his excuses are even worse. Polipundit noted this comment at Hewitt’s site, which clearly shows why the sale and the second payment of $1.1M is not legal and will not be shoved under the rug.

I only caught a piece of the segment on this, but it sounded like he received his cash back almost immediately. This is a bad fact if so. The IRS has some really awful rules to recharacterize this as a sale transaction if he received a cash distribution that, when looked together with the contribution of the land, is more properly characterized as a sale of the property. These are referred to as the disguised sale rules and reside in IRC Section 707(b) and the regulation thereunder.

Read the whole thing, but it implies a level of ignorance that doesn’t fit with Reid’s history. A US Senator can afford better real estate and tax attorney advice than what the evidence is exposing happened with this deal. Heck, I could get better advice from H&R Block than what we see in this scandal. This was not an innocent mistake. The number of land deals Reid has transacted means he is experienced in this, and knew better. Therefore the “naive innocent” excuse will not hold.

9 responses so far

9 Responses to “How Does Reid Get Paid Twice On Land Deal?”

  1. sbd says:

    Congratulations AJ, I am happy my post got you the attention you deserve. I hope the link I am about to post doesn’t cause too much bandwidth to your site. I think my server bandwidth can handle the traffic to the PDF with 55 pages of property transactions for one Harry Reid.

    On a personal note, I included a personal plea at the end of the file hoping some of the bloggers can help me with my own issue.

    Here is the link.

    SBD

  2. AJStrata says:

    SBD,

    You are always welcomed to link from here of course. I will let people know you have more data available.

  3. Senator Reid’s sinking ship of lies…

    Today even more water pouring into the already sinking SSS Harry Reid. Today this editorial nails the issue:
    “THE BEST CASE for Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) is that he was sloppy about financial disclosure rules in accounting fo…

  4. Boghie says:

    To me it looks like a Liberal ‘Tax Cut for the Wealthy’ Crusader using the tax code to his advantage.

    He sells for no profit – thus avoids the Clinton era Capital Gains tax. His tax records will probably show that he invested that same $400,000 into the non-public ‘REIT’ his corrupt buddy ran. This in an era when housing values were exploding.

    He then waits a few years till President Bush adjusts the tax code. Immediately following the tax code changes he presses the non-public ‘REIT’ to sell the property for what it is worth. Miracle of miracles he gets a fat 3/4 million dollar profit in a low tax environment.

    Then in 2004/5 he invests those proceeds into the funds (washing them from the stench of his long time friend) Hewitt mentioned last night.

    What happens to the schools, roads, police, fire, and children’s programs who get no increase in annual property tax revenues since the property sold at the pre-boom property value?

    One last thought…
    He ran for reelection in 2004 – the first year the McCain/Feingold campaign finance laws took place. Could he have been looking for some quick cash – that is, an under the table “Dukester” style contribution. Like the “Dukester”, was Senator Reid a bit lazy on fundraising for his campaign? Remember, he can spend as much of his own money on his campaign as he wants. He may have needed a quick million or so to get his message out (ads). This was what caught “Duke” Cunningham. He ‘sold’ property to a friend for vastly more than it was worth.

    So, did Senator Reid merely take advantage of the ‘Tax Cut for the Wealthy’ or was he ‘washing’ cash or was he backdooring campaign laws???

    Ah, the questions…

  5. Barbara says:

    Evidently Reid has been doing these land deals for years without getting caught. In his arrogance, he has become very sloppy. There is no telling what will be found if we go back far enough…like when he first entered politics.

  6. Barbara says:

    SBD

    You need to get a good lawyer. You may be able to sue Pacificare and also your insurance broker for negligence. You were not diagnosed with cancer until after your coverage took effect. The fact that you went in for a full body scan means nothing. You did not know and could not know you had cancer. A lot of people have these full body scans because they want to know if anything is wrong. This is not a diagnosis.

  7. Barbara says:

    On top of that you did not have a doctor authorize this scan, therefore not suspician of cancer is involved. HMOs are the pits. I had one for about 3 years and they refused to pay charges on all kinds of technicalities. I was the insurance administrator and nearly pulled my hair out trying to straighten out insurance matters for 115 employees.

  8. Concerned says:

    Check out my comment from the 19th on the first post about Rush Limbaugh’s comments. The core to Harry Reid’s crimes are directly connected to organized crime. Whomever is doing reserach out there — and gathering documents/evidence — go online to Maricopa County Recorders Office (Phoenix, AZ). Type in Harry’s name, his sons’ names, etc. Maricopa County is #1 for identity theft. Check out CNN story last June about it. Keep in mind documents you find will have “codes” built in which help the “corrupt involved” know who is linked including corrupt judges. That is how they all get paid including bad rulings.

    This is big and ugly and both political sides are involved SO… you will see “everyone” drop it — including media, Rush and John Solomon, AP Reporter. When the core of Harry Reid’s deals and money are exposed — it will expose many, many more. So everyone take note that it has been dropped.

    America… who is in power? Organized crime! While families and children are being destroyed.

  9. appeal2 says:

    I have a theory. I don’t believe that Dingy Harry ever paid a nickle for the land. I wish I could see the closing file. I am certain that it would show a non-recourse note that Dirty just forgot about. Or he wrote a personal check that was never cashed. Either way, this property was a payoff for services rendered.