Florida is a remarkable place not only because of sun and sea, but a number of appealing laws that may come in handy for anyone “desperate to keep their hands on their money,” Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi suggested in her recent opinion piece speculating on Ivanka Trump and her family’s destination as soon as she and her husband Jared leave the White House.
The laws include something dubbed the 'homestead exemption', which protects a Florida resident’s primary home, however luxurious it may be, from being seized by creditors, with this peculiarity of the state’s legislation leading Masdawi to think that Florida may be equally ideal for retirees and criminals alike.
The author cited a precedent from 2008, when the wife of financier Bernie Madoff abruptly shifted her primary residence from New York to Florida and applied for a homestead exemption to claim rights for a $9.4m home just months before her husband pleaded guilty to spearheading a massive Ponzi scheme.
According to a recent New York Post report, the daughter of US President Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump, and her better half, also Trump’s chief aide, splashed out over $30m on almost a hectare of land in close proximity to Miami Beach.
The eye-watering sum is hardly accidental: the purchased plot of land is situated on super-exclusive Indian Creek Island, otherwise referred to as Billionaire’s Bunker, or "the world's most exclusive municipality."
There are no more than 29 residences on the island, which boasts a 13-strong police force as well as its own private, armed marine patrol.
Trump’s eldest daughter and purported senior White House advisor, Ivanka Trump, recently sat for a deposition as part of a lawsuit over the alleged misuse of over $1 million in inaugural funds in 2017. The case was opened in January, as the Trump Organisation and the Presidential Inaugural Committee were sued for "grossly overpaying" a Washington DC hotel owned by the president which was selling its event space for its owner's inauguration parties.
According to an earlier NYT report, in a parallel move, a Manhattan district attorney is scrutinising the Trump Organisation’s finances, including POTUS’s ostensibly hefty tax return, with millions he reported spent for so-called consulting services. A part of the payment was alleged to have been sent to Ivanka Trump, as she became a senior presidential adviser.
The Trump family has denied any financial impropriety in the case, with POTUS branding the NYT report "total fake news".
"That's fake news. Actually I paid tax and you will see that as soon as my tax returns [are released.] They are under audit. The IRS [Internal Revenue Service] doesn't like me", Trump hit back at the accusations in late September, commenting on the NYT allegations.
