A progressive daily ledger of Trump-world self-owns, legal pain, policy blowback, and bad-faith chaos.
Verified TDF reports about Ethics, newest first.
This timeline is closed, but the archive remains available for reference.
The SEC brought a fresh enforcement action against multiple entities accused of running investment fraud schemes that leaned on WhatsApp and similar platforms. It is a reminder that the grift economy is now fully mobile-native and still very much in business.
A watchdog group filed suit to stop Jared Kushner from serving as a volunteer envoy unless he complies with conflict-of-interest and disclosure rules.
Two former vendors pleaded guilty in a federal corruption probe tied to Evanston/Skokie School District 65. The pleas strengthen the case that district contracting was being steered through cash kickbacks to the superintendent.
Guilfoyle resigned and vowed to fight allegations of improper conduct, keeping a messy ethics and influence story very much alive.
Federal prosecutors said a Colombian national tied to a massive Venezuelan bribery-and-laundering scheme will make an initial appearance in South Florida. The scale is enormous, and the government is treating it as a major transnational corruption and sanctions case.
Kimberly Guilfoyle resigned as U.S. ambassador to Greece after days of allegations that she engaged in improper, and possibly illegal, conduct before and during her tenure. The White House said it asked her to step aside; Guilfoyle says she plans to fight the allegations. Either way, this is a humiliating personnel ...
The SEC added a fresh enforcement case against Zoe Financial, saying the registered investment adviser failed to disclose a conflict of interest.
The administration yanked visas from 27 Latin American officials, former officials, and family members over corruption allegations. The move is part punishment, part foreign-policy theater, and part warning shot to governments the White House thinks are out of line.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed a package of bills aimed at blocking public officials from issuing meme coins and tightening anti-corruption rules, a direct jab at the era of political self-dealing and crypto-adjacent nonsense.
Federal prosecutors in Texas say a former USCIS employee and an associate used the immigration system to approve and speed applications in exchange for cash, a fresh corruption case inside the very agency meant to police the process.
Federal prosecutors indicted interim Jackson County Executive Philip LeVota on bribery charges, alleging an agreement to trade government jobs for political favors. It is exactly the kind of local corruption case that reminds everyone federal ethics enforcement still has to do the dirty work when county politics get...
Vice President J.D. Vance and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin asked the EPA inspector general for an independent investigation into the Biden administration’s East Palestine response, turning a disaster response into a new round of partisan grievance theater.
California filed suit over a federal wind deal that would pay a developer to walk away from an offshore lease, teeing up a fresh climate-and-corruption fight.
New York’s attorney general announced on Tuesday that a former state police trooper was convicted and resigned after conduct that endangered a narcotics investigation. The case is a small but concrete reminder that public corruption and sloppy policing still leave wreckage behind.
A federal judge found that Trump and top Justice Department lawyers misused the court system in the IRS settlement fight, deepening the ethics cloud around a deal critics say was built to protect allies and raise questions about the president using the government he controls.
Two media organizations filed suit on August 12 seeking to block a Truth Social deal that sells early access to the president’s posts. The case raises fresh constitutional and ethics questions about whether a sitting president can profit from time-sensitive policy messaging.
A federal watchdog said Sierra Nevada Company agreed to pay $7.75 million over allegations that a government official working there helped steer contracts. That is not exactly the kind of “public-private partnership” anyone sells in a glossy brochure.
Voters in Hawaii cast ballots on August 8 in a primary election shaped by the corruption case hanging over Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke and the race to replace her. The contest also featured a Democrat facing a tougher-than-usual primary after backing one of Trump’s legislative priorities, which made the day a tidy little s...
An internal ethics dispute at the Federal Reserve erupted into a broader accountability story after officials moved to address conduct concerns tied to a senior policymaking circle. The incident matters because it puts institutional trust, not just personal behavior, on the line at the one place that is supposed to ...
The Justice Department’s latest anti-weaponization move fed the sense that Trumpworld is using federal power to relitigate its own complaints rather than govern cleanly.
Justice Department records list commutations for Jonathan Braun and Michael H. Ashley dated Jan. 19, 2021. The public record reviewed here does not show a corrupt bargain, but the timing put Trump’s final clemency actions under intense scrutiny.
USTR took final Section 301 action on July 15, 2026, imposing a 25% tariff on certain goods from Brazil. The measure took effect July 22 after a yearlong investigation into digital trade, payment services, unfair preferential tariffs, anti-corruption interference, intellectual property, ethanol access and deforestat...