Trump Organization found guilty on all counts of criminal tax fraud | CNN Politics
Category: News & Politics
Via: jbb • 2 years ago • 29 commentsBy: Lauren del Valle,Kara Scannell (CNN)
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A Manhattan jury has found two Trump Organization companies guilty on multiple charges of criminal tax fraud and falsifying business records connected to a 15-year scheme to defraud tax authorities by failing to report and pay taxes on compensation for top executives.
The Trump Corp. and Trump Payroll Corp. were found guilty on all charges they faced.
Donald Trump and his family were not charged in this case, but the former president was mentioned repeatedly during the trial by prosecutors about his connection to the benefits doled out to certain executives, including company-funded apartments, car leases and personal expenses.
The Trump Organization could face a maximum of $1.61 million in fines when sentenced in mid-January. The company is not at risk of being dismantled because there is no mechanism under New York law that would dissolve the company. However, a felony conviction could impact its ability to do business or obtain loans or contracts.
The guilty verdict comes as Trump is under scrutiny by federal and state prosecutors for his handling of classified documents, the effort to overturn the 2020 election results, and the accuracy of the Trump Organization's business records and financial statements. He is also facing a $250 million civil lawsuit from the New York attorney general alleging he and his adult children were involved in a decade long fraud. The attorney general is seeking to permanently bar them from serving as an officer or director of a company in New York state, among other penalties.
"This was a case about greed and cheating," said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. "The Trump Corporation and the Trump Payroll Corporation got away with a scheme that awarded high-level executives with lavish perks and compensation while intentionally concealing the benefits from the taxing authorities to avoid paying taxes. Today's verdict holds these Trump companies accountable for their long-running criminal scheme."
CNN senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Elie Honig said Bragg's approach has been vindicated.
"Obviously, this is a setback for the Trump Org. - a major setback for the Trump Org. They've now been found guilty of criminal conduct, criminal tax fraud," Honig told CNN's Victor Blackwell on "Newsroom."
"It's also a victory of sorts for the Manhattan district attorney," Honig said. "Their theory, now, that part of the income for employees, including Allen Weisselberg, was paid through fringe benefits in order to avoid tax liability - that theory has been vindicated."
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told the jury in closing arguments that Trump "explicitly sanctioned" tax fraud and urged them to reject the defense's argument that former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg was a rogue employee motivated by his own personal greed.
"This whole narrative that Donald Trump is blissfully ignorant is just not true," Steinglass said.
Video Ad Feedback Hear what jurors in Trump Org. trial said about Trump 03:29 - Source: CNN
The jury heard that Trump agreed on a whim to pay the private school tuition for his Weisselberg's grandchildren and signed a lease for a Manhattan apartment to shorten the executive's commute. Trump personally signed his employees' bonus checks at Christmas time and he initialed a memo reducing the salary of another top executives, which prosecutors said suggested he knew all along about the fraudulent scheme.
Prosecutors alleged for years top executives reduced their reported salaries by the amount of company-issued fringe benefits to avoid paying the required taxes.
Weisselberg, who is on paid leave from the company, spent three days on the witness stand. He pleaded guilty to 15 felonies for failing to pay taxes on $1.76 million in income. As part of his plea deal, he will be sentenced to five months in jail if the judge finds that he testified truthfully.
In his testimony Weisselberg admitted he should have paid taxes on compensation, totaling roughly $200,000 in one year, which included a luxury Manhattan apartment overlooking the Hudson River, two Mercedes Benz car leases, parking, utilities, furniture and private school tuition for his grandchildren. He also testified that he paid himself and other executives' bonuses as though they were independent consultants - enabling the Trump companies to evade paying taxes on them.
Weisselberg testified that he pulled off the scheme with the help of his underling, Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney. McConney, who received immunity for testifying before the grand jury, admitted to some of the illegal conduct in his testimony.
After Trump was elected president, Weisselberg testified, there was a "clean up" and many of the illegal practices stopped.
He revealed conversations he had with Trump, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., but told the jury when questioned by the Trump attorneys that he did not scheme or conspire with anybody in the Trump family.
Weisselberg became emotional at times, telling the jury he was "embarrassed" by his conduct and that he "betrayed" the Trump family, who has been his employer for 49 years.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys called out Weisselberg's split loyalties - wanting to live up to his plea deal and serve a lower jail sentence and his loyalty to the Trump family, who could pay him $1 million in compensation this year.
To prove the company's guilt, prosecutors needed to demonstrate that Weisselberg or McConney was a "high managerial agent" who committed the crimes in the scope of his employment and "in behalf of" the company.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers went in circles arguing over what "in behalf of" meant.
Judge Juan Merchan also struggled over how to explain the phrase to the jury and turned to two legal treaties to fashion a definition.
The judge explained it to the jury, saying, "Under the definition of 'in behalf of,' it is not necessary that the criminal acts actually benefit the corporation. But an agent's acts are not 'in behalf of' a corporation if they were undertaken solely to advance the agents own interest. Put another way, if the agent's acts were taken merely for personal gain, they were not 'in behalf of' the corporation."
Weisselberg walked a fine line in his testimony, telling the jury he never wanted to hurt the company, he was driven by greed and mainly wanted to pay less in taxes. But, he also said, he knew at the time the company would benefit to some degree from his schemes.
In his testimony Weisselberg said, "It was a benefit to the company but primarily it was due to my greed." He told the jury that the company saved money by paying less taxes on his off-the-books compensation and acknowledged when asked by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger if, while his primary goal was to avoid taxes, it also created a benefit to the company.
"To some degree, yes," Weisselberg testified.
Weisselberg said he and McConney knew at the time that the company would pay less payroll taxes through the scheme although he said they never discussed it explicitly.
The Trump attorneys argued, repeatedly, to the jury that "Weisselberg did it for Weisselberg" to emphasize that he was motivated solely by his personal greed.
On cross examination, Weisselberg agreed that the decision to not pay taxes was his and made solely to benefit himself.
"That was my intent," Weisselberg said when questioned by the Trump attorneys, "to benefit myself."
The lawyers for the Trump entities called just one fact witness, the real estate companies' long-time accountant Donald Bender from Mazars USA, which dropped Trump as a client earlier this year.
Trump attorneys said Bender was either aware of the off-the-books compensation or should have caught the tax fraud and they accused him of lying on the stand.
When questioned by prosecutors Bender testified that he trusted and relied on Weisselberg, who testified that he hid the illegal scheme.
Steinglass, the prosecutor, told the jury the Trump companies were guilty, and the illegal scheme was concocted "so the employees can get more net pay while costing the Trump Corporation less. It's a win-win - unless you're the tax authorities."
This story has been updated with additional details.
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Guilty On All Fifteen Counts!
Donald Trump and his family were not charged in this case,
That's going to leave a mark.
OH NO!! ...........................................Meh. They'll get some fines. LMAO
When the estimated net worth is over 3 billion, The Trump Organization could face a maximum of $1.61 million in fines, that amount is equal to a rounding error in petty cash.
Butt, how much will it cost Trump when he is barred for life from doing business in NY ever again, ever? More than his charity ban?
Is that a rhetorical question or do you plan on answering it?
Under what grounds would he be barred?
Look it up! Now that the Trump Organization, which is Trump's, has been found guilty of numerous charges of tax fraud in New York The Trump Organization can be barred from ever doing business in New York ever again. So, if or when The Trump Organization gets barred from ever doing business in NY ever again Trump and Co also are barred from ever doing business in New York ever again . Just the same as how Trump and his Klan are now barred from ever operating a charity in NY! That is what I call a real "Burn"!
Wrong,
The company is not at risk of being dismantled because there is no mechanism under New York law that would dissolve the company.
None, when it comes to trump and the trump family some are reduced to just making shit up, like fictitious criminal charges.
You are obviously grossly uninformed. A civil suit can do it now that The Trump Organization is guilty of fraud in NY...
So he has to lose another case that hasn’t even started! That awesome! Are they included in the imaginary criminal charges?
and for a whole five years! LOL.
But, Donald Trump and his family are criminally charges for fraud in other cases. Nothing as bad as the Seditious Conspiracy or Stealing Government Secrets coming! Fasten you seat belt. It will be bumpy!
Can you list a single criminal charge that has been filed against Trump, not civil cases but 1 single criminal charge?
It is hard to pick just one. But, let's start with the perjury charges in Georgia...
No charges filed, thanks for confirming that.
Yet, Donald John Trump's signature is all over the evidence which convinced the jury that The Trump Organization is guilty on all seventeen counts of tax fraud. And, that has lots of implications!
Now we will get the "who cares"? response from the right. They dont care that they have been backing a criminal for the last 7 years, we know that.
This could be the start of the snowball rolling down the hill though. It is an interesting time.
“It is an interesting time.”
We actually find ourselves at a crossroads.
Do some continue to look the other way in purely political expediency, or do we all accept the daily demonstrable failings and thus move on?
Seems a rather a simple conclusion.
I agree you have the essence there, but I dont have a lot of hope. Trump might become more of a "guilty pleasure" for some of the cult, but they will latch onto whatever they can. They want "their" country back and that does not necessarily hinge on Trump himself.
He or his family have not been charged or convicted of any crimes
How dare you! He is a criminal! Just ask any liberal here.
of course they lack any proof of criminal charges, but that is a technicality that will be covered up with a constant barrage of lies and accusations.
The 1.6 mil fine is a slap on the wrist for trump and trump org.
Wonder when the IRS will come calling.
What about when his banks call his loans because of his fraud?
They can’t unless it’s specifically written into the contract, but you can add that to the imaginary criminal charges,
It is in the loan documents and is a common and standard business practice that it would be negligent in the bank's not to have included. You really are grasping at straws now...
I don't care because I don't see this as justice. First, they only went after these companies because of who they were owned by. Justice is supposed to be blind and it hasn't been that for a long time, among the rich and powerful.
Second, and more importantly, it isn't justice when the perps are found guilty and nothing meaningful happens to them. $1.61 million? Are you kidding me? Yet we see this time and time again. They break the law and all they get is a fine that basically means nothing to them. Just the cost of doing business to them and all the others who break the law and only pay fines.
And while hoping that these companies are barred from doing business in NY might satisfy your craving for sticking it to Trump any way you can, it sure isn't going to be justice for all the people who worked for those companies but did no wrong and paid their taxes. But they're guilty just because they worked for Trump, so who cares, right? I mean, it doesn't matter that it would be more just to bar the guilty from doing business in NY rather than the company, thereby saving the innocent, they still worked for Trump, right?
New York isn't going to do shit to Trump when it comes to barring from him doing business.
They aren't going to risk the taxes Trump businesses do pay.
They also aren't going to risk Trump; those businesses affiliated with Trump; and any businesses that are doing the same damn thing moving their headquarters and businesses out of New York. New York is already hemorrhaging people/tax payers. They don't need to speed the process up by losing businesses and corporations.
But they finally "got Trump". Too bad it will not end their TDS; or halt their "get Trump at all costs" mentality.