DECEMBER 6 — NEW YORK The conviction of Donald Trump’s real estate company on Tuesday for engaging in a criminal scheme to defraud tax authorities over fifteen years adds to the legal problems that the former president of the United States is currently facing as he campaigns for the presidency once more in 2024.
The Trump Organization, which manages hotels, golf courses, and another real estate all over the world, was found to be guilty of paying personal expenses for top executives, including the company’s former chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, and issuing bonus checks to those executives as if they were independent contractors. This scandal involved the Trump Organization’s practice of paying personal expenses for top executives.
As a result of the company’s conviction on all charges, which include conspiring to defraud tax authorities, falsifying business records, and other offenses, the company could be subject to fines of up to $1.6 million. Trump was cleared of any wrongdoing in this matter.
The judge who presided over the case in the New York state court who was Juan Merchan assigned January 13 as the date for the sentencing hearing. Although it is not anticipated that the fine will be significant for a firm of the magnitude of the Trump Organization, the conviction could make it more difficult for the company to conduct business.
Weisselberg, who is 75 years old, was required to testify as the government’s star witness in exchange for a plea bargain that calls for a sentence of five months in jail. The verdict was described as “very just” by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office was responsible for the prosecution of the case.
“The former president’s companies now stand convicted of crimes,” Bragg said in the New York courthouse after the verdict, referring to the Trump Corporation and Trump Payroll Corporation, which are the two units of the Trump Organization that were convicted. “The former president’s companies now stand convicted of crimes,” Bragg said. Bragg did not provide a response when he was asked if he regretted not prosecuting Trump in the case. According to what he has revealed, the inquiry into Trump’s business is still ongoing.
APPEAL
A lawyer for the Trump Organization named Alan Futerfas stated that the business will file an appeal and that the criminal law that governs the responsibility of corporations was unclear. After the verdict was rendered, he stated to the reporters, “It was essential to the case.” The jury deliberated for approximately 12 hours spread out over two days.
The allegations that the company paid personal expenses for executives, including Weisselberg, such as free rent and car leases, without reporting the income, and that the company gave those executives bonuses as non-employee compensation from other Trump entities, such as the Mar-a-Lago Club, without deducting taxes, were at the heart of the case.
According to testimony presented during the four-week trial, Trump personally authorized the lease for his opulent apartment in Manhattan, signed the annual bonus checks, paid the private school tuition for Weisselberg’s grandchildren, and approved a salary deduction for another executive.
During his closing statement on Friday, the prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told the jury that the entire narrative that Donald Trump was blissfully ignorant is simply not real. “The whole narrative that Donald Trump was blissfully ignorant is just not real,” Steinglass said. He explained that the “vast array of rewards” was intended to maintain “happiness and loyalty” among senior executives.
Republican Trump, who on November 15 started his third candidacy for the presidency on, said in a statement that he was “disappointed” by the verdict, but he termed the case a “Manhattan witch hunt.” Trump is a candidate for the presidency on the Republican ticket. Both Bragg and his predecessor, Cyrus Vance, who was responsible for bringing the charges, are Democrats.
SEPARATE LAWSUIT
Letitia James, the Attorney General of New York state, has filed a separate lawsuit alleging that the Trump Organization engaged in fraudulent activity.
The current president, Donald Trump, is the subject of an investigation by the Department of Justice of the United States of America regarding his handling of sensitive government documents after he left office in January 2021 and attempts to overturn the election that he lost to Democrat Joe Biden in November 2020.
The legal team representing the Trump Organization argued that Weisselberg engaged in the scheme for his gain, rather than for the companies. They made an effort to portray him as a disloyal worker. Weisselberg is currently on paid leave and has stated in court that he anticipates receiving an additional bonus of $500,000 in January.
On November 19, Donald Trump stated on his Truth Social platform that neither he nor his family had received “any economic gain from the acts done by the executive.” Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty in August to concealing $1.76 million in income from tax authorities, stated during his testimony that although Trump signed checks involving the matter, he did not conspire with Trump. Weisselberg entered his guilty plea for the crime in August.
He stated that the company was able to save money by paying for his rent, utilities, Mercedes-Benz car leases for both him and his wife, as well as other personal expenses, rather than increasing his salary because a salary increase would have had to account for taxes.
He claimed that after Trump’s two sons learned about his plan to avoid paying taxes, they rewarded him with a pay increase and took operational control of the company in 2017. By that point, Trump had been elected president, and the business was getting ready to face increased scrutiny.
Weisselberg stated in his testimony that “we were going through an entire cleanup process of the company” to guarantee that everything was being carried out appropriately now that Trump is the president.
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