Boris Epshteyn returns to the courtroom after a break during Donald Trump's hush money trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024 in New York City.
Trump Corruption in Spotlight as Top Aide Implicated in Alleged 'Shakedown Scheme'
"When the person at the top is as corrupt as Trump, everyone else becomes corrupt, because otherwise you're a sucker," wrote one journalist.
Boris Epshteyn, a leading adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, allegedly sought payments in the tens of thousands of dollars in exchange for promoting candidates for top positions in the incoming administration, a scheme that observers saw as further evidence of the corruption pervading the Republican leader's inner circle.
Multiple news outlets reported Monday that the top attorney on Trump's transition team investigated Epshteyn—who helped represent the former president during his effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election—over accusations that he requested payments from people seeking roles in the incoming administration.
Scott Bessent, Trump's pick to lead the Treasury Department, was among those Epshteyn pushed for payments , according to The Associated Press.
The Washington Post reported Monday that Epshteyn asked Bessent for "a monthly stipend of at least $30,000" in exchange for promoting him for the Treasury role, an offer Bessent declined. Epshteyn "later asked Bessent to invest $10 million in a three-on-three basketball league," according to the Post, which cited an internal legal review.
Epshteyn called the accusations "fake" and "defamatory."
Reports of Epshteyn's scheme came amid broader concerns about glaring conflicts of interest within Trump's transition team and incoming administration, both of which are teeming with lobbyists and executives who stand to benefit from the president-elect's second term.
"In any organization, when the person at the top is as corrupt as Trump, everyone else becomes corrupt, because otherwise you're a sucker," journalist Jon Schwarz wrote Monday.
In what one watchdog group called "a highly unprecedented move," Trump has thus far refused to sign a legally required ethics pledge and other documents necessary to formally set the transition in motion. By not signing the ethics pledge, Trump has been able to conceal the names of individuals and corporations financing his return to power, allowing them to contribute unlimited sums.
"This resistance to commit to ethical conduct while serving as president is a red flag pointing to nothing so much as greed and corruption and an intention to enrich himself and/or his family through the extensive powers of his office," Virginia Kase Solomón, president and CEO of Common Cause, said in a statement Monday. "Americans expect and deserve a president who prioritizes the nation's well-being over personal gain. They will not tolerate a president who abuses the powers of his office to line his own pockets."
During his first term, according to a recent analysis by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Trump "likely benefited from $13.6 million in payments from foreign governments" to his companies.
Trump, granted sweeping immunity by the conservative-dominated Supreme Court, is poised to enrich himself further during his second term. As the Post noted last week, the president-elect "has made no promises to divest from any of his financial interests, which have now soared to include a cryptocurrency business and a stake valued at $3.76 billion in a social media company, in addition to his family firm's growing number of foreign deals."
"The unprecedented scenario of a president holding a single company's shares worth billions of dollars—as Trump does in Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., the parent company of Truth Social—is unanticipated by existing law," the Post added.
Delaney Marsco and Maha Quadri of Campaign Legal Center wrote earlier this month that "in the absence of swift, concrete action by the president-elect to signal his dedication to ethics standards, all signs point to a second term that will prioritize personal interest over public good, and a declining trust in public institutions."
