Free Republic

Senator Thom Tillis, a senior Republican from North Carolina on key Senate committees (Banking, Finance, Judiciary), is implicated in a pattern of undisclosed real estate dealings suggesting potential fraud and tax evasion. From 2007-2016, Tillis used TRT Holdings, LLC to conduct $0 property transfers, including XXXX Enslow Place (sold for $55,000 in 2013, undisclosed) and a trailer park, transferred twice (2011 for $250,000, 2016 for $750,000) to Tillis-linked entities without disclosure. These actions violate the Ethics in Government Act, requiring disclosure of assets over $1,000 and income over $200, and may involve fraudulent conveyance, false representation, and tax evasion—crimes with...

Pumping money, for sure, but one doesn't normally associate Karl Rove with pumping iron. That was before the owner of Gold's Gym International Inc. kicked in $2 million to a Rove operation very much involved in Tuesday's election.That the operation is financing candidates avowedly opposed to all manner of gay rights issues - adoption, marriage, job discrimination, serving in the military - has proved too much for the chain's Bay Area franchise. "Our member base made us aware of this, and we decided on a course of action," Don Dickerson, the franchise's director of operations, said in an interview. After...

Four Gold's Gym franchises in the San Francisco Bay Area are abandoning their brand after learning that their parent company's owner made a large, private donation to American Crossroads, the conservative political group that backs candidates opposed to expanding gay rights. Billionaire Robert Rowling, CEO of TRT Holdings, which owns Gold's, has given more than $2 million this election cycle to American Crossroads, the third party organization with ties to former Bush strategist Karl Rove. Reports of Rowling's significant donations to American Crossroads angered some franchise owners, who said the donations betrayed Gold's strong ties to the gay community. "Gold's...