The rise fall of Terrance John “TJ” Cox: 15 counts of wire fraud, 11 counts of money laundering…

And TJ thinks taking a page out of Trump’s playbook is a winning strategy. Spoiler: never go full Trump. Because the affidavit is pretty

It’s not a politically based prosecution, TJ you broke a bunch of laws…

Like or not Donald Trump and the “Trump playbook” are here to stay (for the foreseeable future. Until such time the Republican National Party pulls their heads out, then they can either sink or swim on the epic disaster, affectionately known as: U.S.S. Titanic-Trump. More precisely if you, as a former House of Representatives member end up in the crosshairs of the FBI and more broadly the DOJ. And you are now looking down the barrel of a multi-count indictment which detailed some $3,000,000.00 —irrespective of which political party you are, the laws and criminal acts (as detailed in the indictment)

ProTip: do not mimic the deranged “Orange Dear Leader” —it’s not a good look to ever go “full Trump” —Ostensibly claiming “politics” as the reason for your actions in an elaborate and multi year fraud scheme. I hope TJ doesn’t hire Rudy Giuliani because he’s no longer allowed to practice law. Our laws & criminal codes are not secular to a certain political party. Additionally if you believe I’m hyper partisan, then clearly I’m not doing my extracurricular Substack job correctly. Generally speaking; when it comes to corrupt criminal matters, I actually don’t give a flying fig newton if your a Democrat, Republican, Tea Party or MAGA. If you broke the law I’m likely to be an equal opportunity critic.Okay now that the spicy snark is out of my system, let’s just focus on the facts.

Summary of the Defendant Cox’s charges & penalty

On August 16, 2022 the Government filed a motion to unseal the August 4, 2022 indictment of former congressman Terrance John “TJ” Cox —link to indictment via ECF or via Scribd As detailed in the indictment TJ Cox was charged with:

• 18 U.S.C. § 1343 – Wire Fraud (10 Counts);

• 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(1)(B)(i) –Money Laundering (11 Counts);

• 18 U.S.C. § 1343 –Wire Fraud Affecting a Financial Institution (5 Counts)

• 18 U.S.C. § 1344 – Financial Institution Fraud (1 Count)

• 52 U.S.C. §§ 30122 & 30109 –Contributions in the Name of Another (one count);

• 18 U.S.C. §§ 981(a)(1)(C), 982(a)(1), 982(a)(2), and 28 U.S.C. § 2461(c) -the government intends to exercise the forfeiture action

Arrest warrant as to Defendant TJ Cox returned

What you might not know is 18 U.S.C. § 1343 – penalty has a maximum allowable sentence of twenty years, however wire fraud has an “enhancer” — If said wire fraud “affecting a financial institution and financial institution fraud” —that “enhancer”, statutorily bumps up the maximum term of imprisonment to thirty years and/or up to a $1M fine. To say these are very serious charges, might be an understatement. Taken as a whole (as in each count) Defendant TJ Cox is looking at a bare minimum several decades in a federal prison, provided he doesn’t negotiate a plea deal. Assuming arguendo the government is inclined to enter into plea agreement negotiations..

Show me the “straw donor money”

A plain reading of the indictment (see Scribd) notes that TJ Cox was either the owner, and/or partial owner of several business entities. The Government identified Defendant Cox’s scheme of “robbing Peter to pay Paul” —his scheme used those business entities, fraudulently used various tax breaks, and then using various business accounts to shuffle (or launder) hundreds of thousands of dollars. Keep in mind Defendant Cox took the oath of office in October 2019. Additionally Cox was first elected in 2018. This means he was campaigning during the scheme.

• 2005/2006 election cycle -see FEC ID: H6CA19113 -he raised some $886K

• 2017/2018 election cycle, raising more than $2.97 Million, see FEC report

• 2019/2020 election cycle, Defendant Cox raised over $6M, see FEC report

I’d like to point out something (I think that it’s relatively) important: sometime after the 2019/2020 election cycle COX, TERRENCE JOHN (TJ) changed the name to RISING ELECTORATE PAC FEC ID: H8CA10167 -furthermore, based on the July 2022 Quarterly FEC report the PAC had $133,100.36 cash on hand but ended with $13,870.60 on hand. Now some might incorrectly assume that none of his fraudulent scheme occurred while he was a member of Congress…

…however I’d submit to you that it might be actually worse. Defendant Cox’s fraudulent scheme occurred while he was campaigning for Congress. Given the indictment articulated at least one “straw donation” … in my view that makes Defendant Cox’s fall from grace even more problematic. For Example I now refer you to page 10, line 11 —the indictment alleges after soliciting a $100K “loan” Defendant Cox used those funds to: pay his mortgage, private school tuition, credit card payments.

Prosecutors stated that Cox’s scheme caused losses of $1M from borrowers and Cox funneled those ill-gotten largesses by actual means of fraud. Specifically Cox used the Tax Credit Company and then a not-for-profit organization, as one instrumentality to launder those funds. Moreover in reading the indictment, it’s abundantly clear that Cox had two fraud schemes:

Cox perpetrated multiple fraud schemes targeting companies he was affiliated with and their clients and vendors… created unauthorized off-the-books bank accounts and diverted client and company money into those accounts through false representations, pretenses and promises. From 2013 to 2018, across two different fraud schemes, Cox illicitly obtained over $1.7 million in diverted client payments and company loans and investments he solicited and then stole.

When the Government includes a tables of transactions —thoughts & prayers you’re forked

ProTip things you never want to see in an indictment (besides your name) a chart of transactions and exact dollar amounts and dates. This indictment contains nearly seven different charts, where prosecutors lay out how the monies were fraudulent obtained and how those funds then filtered in/out of Accounts the Defendant established.

According to the indictment Cox opened multiple unauthorized accounts and hide this fact from his business partners. By fraudulently opening business bank accounts. The defendant also solicited “loans from investors” and then he funneled those monies directly into his personal account. Thereby bypassing the Almond Processing Company’s accountants & co-owners. This “off-book” scheme meant the Defendant unjustly enriched himself to the tune of $1.7M. Thereafter Cox then initiated another scheme tied to a mix-use development project in Fresno, to the hefty tune of $1.5M.

As alleged in the indictment, Defendant Cox had a 4th scheme, that included fraudulent mortgage loan applications (which included fabricated bank statements and lying about his “primary residence”

Using fraud to partially fund your congressional campaign, how arrogant can you be?

Cox also set up a plan to fund and reimburse donations to his 2018 congressional campaign from friends and family members, according to the indictment. The straw donor donations, prosecutors say, totaled more than $25,000.00 —upon reading the full indictment a few things are crystal clear:

• this criminal case is largely on paper (I’d liken it to the Avenatti fraud case, but certainly not as elaborate)

• Greed tends to entice people with minimal ethics to do illegal things

• Defendant Cox harmed numerous individuals (like his business partners), several investors, numerous financial institutions.

• prosecutors have Defendant Cox over the barrel and it certainly appears someone (or several) individuals close to Cox likely cooperated with the Government

Not that this matters, but I can’t wrap my head around anyone who would go to the lengths Cox did. The level of dishonesty, temerity and sloppily by Cox likely contributed to his stunning fall from grace. Again you can pull down the indictment from my Scribd account

And while it’s expected that a Defendant would take the position of “I did nothing wrong …I’m being targeted by this politically motivated prosecution” the fact is Defendant Cox has a lot of chutzpah to make the following comments, upon his release from jail. Not that this matters but apparently Cox and/or his attorneys became aware of an arrest warrant and they negotiated to a self surrender. Meaning yesterday morning (I think around 10AM PST) Cox turned himself in rather than having the spectacle of having him placed in handcuffs and doing a public perp walk. Again I’ll never fully understand why someone like TJ Cox would resort to multiple acts of fraud which ultimately lead to his unjust gross enrichment. Call me old fashioned but if you want something, you have to work hard and save up but using illegal shortcuts could land you in federal prison.

As for what happens next, late yesterday Defendant Cox was released from jail and I wouldn’t be surprised if the parties will further negotiate a plea agreement because as previously detailed TJ Cox is looking down the barrel of several decades in Federal Prison, should a jury of his peers convict him.

Lastly here’s you daily saltwater therapy. But for now I need to get back to my bonbons. It’s not like they are going to eat themselves and it’s emblematic of a Wednesday when your lunchtime is interrupted by a few “emergencies” that require your immediate attention.

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Also heads up I’m likely taking tomorrow and Friday off from writing because I’m not a cyborg. Nor have I found a way to clone myself. With the help of my grief counselor, they recently challenged me to start recognizing when I’m burning too many candles at both ends. After all self care is the best kind of care. With their guidance I’ve come to the conclusion that my previous modus operandi of just pushing through meant I was likely ignoring the grief. However if I’m going to be intellectually honest; pretending something didn’t happen isn’t exactly healthy. And I know —unquestionably my former boss wants me to move on but in a healthy way. I’m tired of being sad and trying to hide my sadness. But yesterday I realized that life goes on with or without you.

Be Well

-Filey