Another plot development that no screenwriter could ever get away with. Kash Patel owns a home in Las Vegas — maybe. I say maybe because when you know how his buddy Michael J. Muldoon handles time shares, the concept of ownership is not quite so clear cut as it generally is. Muldoon is “a GOP megadonor who has lured countless vacationers into his convoluted web of timeshare companies,” according to The Nevada Independent.

Yet Clark [one of Muldoon’s marks] said the couple found themselves ambushed by a bevy of costs and complications quite at odds with the glittering promises in the sales pitch — but familiar from countless complaints against Starpoint and its affiliates on the Better Business Bureau website, Facebook groups, Reddit forums, Yelp reviews and a 2019 class action lawsuit that accused the company of running a bait-and-switch scheme: rapidly escalating maintenance fees, poor accommodations at other resorts they could only escape by buying an “upgrade,” an incomprehensible “points” system for booking and the stunning discovery that they actually did not own their timeshare at all.

“Fraud (intentional misrepresentation) was used as the method to maximize profits,” the suit alleged. “Defendants knew that this was unlawful and have continued to use such means as fraud, misrepresentations, and omissions.”

Okay. A Patel’s tight with a known fraudster that has been the subject of class action suits — and believe me when I tell you that class action suits are not easily come by. You need a LOT of malfeasance that affects a lot of people before a class action suit will be certified.

Now we find out that Kash Patel wants to live in Vegas part time and run the FBI from out there. This is particularly comical once you bear in mind how down Trump is on remote workers. Trump says they’ll play golf, they’ll watch TV, they’ll do all kinds of things but they won’t work. And maybe Patel won’t work either.

Kash Patel’s appointment as FBI director seems to be coming with conditions: He wants to live part-time in Las Vegas and work remotely, far away from FBI headquarters in Washington. […]

Muldoon appears to have a history of cozying up to law enforcement officials. He has donated a lot of money to the political campaigns of former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, whose office received multiple complaints about Muldoon’s businesses but never pursued them. And apart from sharing an address with Patel, Muldoon also has intricate business dealings with him, utilizing the same incorporation and legal services.

Patel and Muldoon even took a golf trip together to Scotland back when the FBI director was a federal employee on the National Security Council, which could be an ethics violation. Patel at the time was barred from accepting gifts, and the NSC at the time wasn’t approving any trips. He also would have had to report the trip, and records aren’t available from that time to confirm whether he did or did not.

All of this raises questions as to how Patel is going to run not one, but two, prominent federal law enforcement agencies (he is also head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) with such extensive ties to someone with questionable practices, living in Las Vegas part-time. It seems that the appearance of corruption is not a barrier to working in the Trump administration, even if you’re in charge of enforcing the law.

What’s next? Patel has guys named Vinnie and Rocco bury bodies in the desert and every other cliche we’ve ever heard? The FBI gets in bed with the mob, like in Godfather III where the Pope was asked if he was interested in such an arrangement?

It’s impossible to speculate because everytime you think you might have a handle on what’s going on, the plot goes off in a new and Bizarro World direction. We’ll just have to live through this madness one day at a time.

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3 COMMENTS

  1. I have only seen the first Godfather. But if the mob wants to take out the Catholic cardinals who are MAGA types ( Cardinal.Burke, thenidiot Bishop Stricklsnd the Pope removed from.his position, and Burke’s arch conservative buddies) it would be a nice idea.

    Patel needs to.move to D.C. Or resign as F.B.I. director. Despite what he thinks,it isn’t a part-time job. Of course he can.probably do.less harm if he stays in Vegas and treats it like a part-time position.

  2. Am I living in a parody of what was once my reality or have the “president” and his minions developed a love for cosplay? Criminal types often cozy up to law enforcement using two methods, bribery or blackmail. One or both of these could be prime reasons we’ve seen no complaints against this Muldoon fellow going anywhere. As for conflicts of interest or the appearance of corruption, conflicts do not exist anymore. and “appearance of corruption” has been dropped from the conversation, with republicans opting for overt corruption. And our so-called “president” tells the faithful to not believe their eyes and ears, only what he tells them

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