Couple of things here. the use of that word "DONATED". I'd buy that. Only it was "donated" to this LLC partnership, now was it? When you "donate" something it becomes, well, DONATED. You don't get a 1.1 million dollar profit on something you DONATED! I donate to Goodwill all the time. A few years later the Goodwill does not come back and give me profit money on my old dining room furniture.
And you said there is no indication that zoning authorities were influenced in any way. Hey, did you READ the thing? I'll allow as there are many players in this thing what with that corrupt zoning commission and those developers. Not to mention that most amazing land swap of Lake Tahoe land for prime Las Vegas area real estate.
Here's what happened: Reid and his buddies knew that with Las Vegas growing-and don't forget Reid was head of the Casino gaming poobah thing so we can assume he'd have influence on this kind of thing-the land on the outskirts that Reid bought for 400K would go up in value. So they bought the land, buried the deal in some LLC with absolutely NO record that Reid had an interest in this LLC.
Reid was paying the property tax in some fashion right along although...WHY? After all, he "donated" the land to the LLC? Then Reid makes a profit from the LLC to which he DONATED the land? Bullshit. This was a carefully crafted way of funnelling a big profit to Reid.
It's that little manner of the DONATED land that's going to get him. Not reporting this matter to the Senate, and IRS perhaps, is also a factor.
This is no little thing here.
Donated in that sense is a legal term. No reason you would understand that.
there is no indication that zoning authorities were influenced in any way
You mischaracterize what I said. I said the article does not report that there was "undue influence" exerted. It does say that the partner mentioned Reid's name in a public hearing, to lend credibility to the project. Pretty slick, but not illegal. Undue influence would involve money or threats or promises that derive from the Senator's power. Give some evidence of that and you would have something.
Knowing that an area is going to go up in value is a sign of a good real estate investor. The interest wasn't buried, it was recorded. What was buried was the continued interest after the land was "donated" by Reid to the partnership. To what effect, though. Would he have still gotten the $1.1 million if everyone knew that it was his land and the partnership's expertise that was developing the land? Yes, most likely. The development was built out, and unless someone determines that it was not really worth $1.6 million when sold, there is not much "there" there. As opposed to the Cunningham house sale, where a $900,000 house sold for $1.6 million, evidencing a bribe of $700,000.
The fact that Reid was continuing to pay property tax all along evidences that he was NOT trying to hide his continued ownership interest in the land. I don't know what you are trying to get at with that fact.
I fully accept the likelihood that Reid is dirty as sin, as many people from Nevada report. You need more than this, though, to stir up a lot of trouble for him. Something that involves him receiving UNEARNED money for favors or for lending his clout to a project. Or failing to report the income, not failing to report that a partner paid property tax one year, when Reid paid him back from the proceeds of sale.
In fact, didn't Reid do something corrupt for an Indian tribe? How did that discipline action go? Not too well, right? Better get some goods on these guys if you want to make it stick.
Senate rules say he has to report any and all financial transactions. On those transaction's, Reid claimed the property still belonged to him. He did not report THE SALE (Drudge). He either lied on his Senate report about it still belonging to him or lied about the "donation" of the land three years ago.
Either way, he still scams the taxpayers and makes $1 mill bucks off the deal.
I agree, this has INVESTIGATION written all over it!