Trump’s company received fine for tax fraud
2023.01.13 14:31
Trump’s company received fine for tax fraud
By Kristina Sobol
Budrigannews.com – After being found guilty of scheming to defraud tax authorities for 15 years, Donald Trump’s namesake real estate company was given a criminal sentence of $1.61 million on Friday.
After jurors found two affiliates of the Trump Organization guilty of 17 criminal charges last month, Justice Juan Merchan of the Manhattan criminal court imposed the maximum possible sentence under state law.
As the prosecution’s most important witness, Allen Weisselberg, who worked for the Trump family for 50 years and was the company’s former chief financial officer, was given a five-month prison sentence by Merchan on Tuesday.
One of the defense attorneys, Susan Necheles, stated that Trump’s company intends to appeal. No other person was accused.
The case was brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office is still conducting a criminal investigation into Trump’s business practices.
Bragg told reporters, “This important chapter of our ongoing investigation into the former president and his businesses closes with the sentencing today, along with the sentencing earlier this week.” We will now move on to the following chapter.
One of the prosecutors, Joshua Steinglass, gave the impression of complaining about the severity of the punishment, stating to Merchan that it was only a “tiny portion” of the revenue generated by the Trump Organization.
Companies cannot be imprisoned or sentenced.
Bill Black, a white-collar crime specialist at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, described the punishment as a “rounding error” with “zero” deterrence.
He said, “This is a farce.” Because of this sentence, no one will stop committing these kinds of crimes.”
The Republican former president has long criticized the case, claiming that Democrats who despise him and his politics are conducting a witch hunt.
State Attorney General Letitia James is also suing Trump for $250 million, claiming that he and his adult children, Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric, inflated their net worths and the asset values of their businesses in order to save money on loans and insurance.
Both Bragg and James are Democrats, as is Cyrus Vance, the previous prosecutor for Bragg. After losing his bid for reelection in 2020, Trump is running for president in 2024.
Prosecutors claimed that Christmas bonuses were non-employee compensation and offered evidence during a four-week trial that Trump’s company covered personal expenses like rent and car leases for executives without reporting them as income.
Prosecutors claimed that Trump personally signed checks for bonuses, the lease for Weisselberg’s posh Manhattan apartment, and tuition for private schools for the CFO’s grandchildren.
At the hearing on Friday, Steinglass stated, “A number of these fraudulent practices were explicitly sanctioned from the top down.”
Weisselberg denied that Trump was involved in the fraud scheme and refused to assist Bragg in his larger investigation of the former president, despite giving evidence for the government.
Until this week, the Trump Organization had placed Weisselberg on paid leave. His attorney stated that the Tuesday-announced split was amicable.
The 75-year-old Weisselberg is currently serving time in the infamous Rikers Island prison in New York City.
Investigations into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, Trump’s retention of classified documents after leaving the White House, and efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia are just a few of his other legal woes.
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