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Ivanka Closed Her Business Two Years Ago, Why Is It STILL Bringing in Money? — Ethics Watchdog Wants to Know

Ivanka came under an avalanche of criticism in 2018 over the fact that she worked out of the White House as an official staffer (unpaid) while also still operating an international business under her own name. The ridiculous conflict of interest and the heat that came from it led her to announce that she was closing her namesake fashion brand. Her latest financial disclosures state, “All operations of the business ceased on July 31, 2018.” Curiously, her latest disclosures also state that she made at least six figures from the trust holding that business in 2019.

That’s not supposed to happen because that’s not how this works.

In a September 2020 report, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (a watchdog group) found [1] that Ivanka reported making between $100,000 – $1,000,000 in rent or royalties from the Ivanka M. Trump Business Trust (IT Collection, LLC Holding Company), which is comprised of her various Ivanka branded fashion companies. The entity also holds all princess’s trademarks and foreign patents.

CREW’s analysis of Ivanka’s 2019 disclosures leads them to believe that she “shuttered” only parts of her fashion brand, or that she continued to make money off of her fashion brand after it closed down. There is no real other explanation. The trust holds various businesses that make an entire list of things; makeup, baby stuff, clothing … the way the income is reported makes it impossible to tell which of these lines have continued to bring in money, but together they could still be making up to a million dollars a year.

CREW found that it’s easy-peasy to buy Ivanka’s perfume online from major retailers, which – again, isn’t the way this is supposed to work. Her clothing line is basically dead in the water, marked down to near nothing, and hard to find. But her perfume was – at one point – Amazon’s number one women’s scent. Odd, since Ivanka reeks of hypocrisy and most women prefer less strong scents like lavender or rose.

The New York Times recently reported [2] that Ivanka “has told friends that she’s looking forward to returning to New York and to her lifestyle brand.” (Is it just us or are the people who self-reference their lives as “brands” always annoying AF?)

When Ivanka closed the brand, ostensibly shutting it down permanently, it was highly controversial. On the one hand, her day job involved championing women and American jobs, on the other hand, she got rich off clothing made by women who were essentially slaves in China and Indonesia. Now that is very “on-brand” for Ivanka.

Were that not bad enough, CREW reported that Ivanka accumulated foreign trademarks that were often approved around the time she had meetings in her government role with officials from those countries.

But as everyone knows, you have to watch the Trumps closely. Ivanka Trump’s spokesperson said her business was closed. She wrote on her official government disclosures that it ceased all operations two years ago. So how the hell is it still making a million dollars a year? She better tell us, because no one takes her word for anything.

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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @MiciakZoom