Trump’s company charged with tax evasion | Abroad

The Trump Organization – which operates hotels, golf resorts and other properties around the world – faces fines as a result of the conviction. The judge overseeing the case in New York state will set the verdict on January 13.

While the fine itself is unlikely to have a major financial impact on a corporation as large as the Trump Organization, the conviction could deter lenders and partners, complicating its ability to do business.

The case centered around allegations that the company paid personal expenses, such as free rents and car rentals, to senior executives, including former chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg. However, this income has not been declared. In addition, senior executives were paid bonuses as if they were independent contractors.

“Many benefits are designed to keep top executives happy and loyal,” prosecutor Joshua Stenglass said during his closing argument to the jury on Friday.

Weisselberg, 75, was the key witness at the trial. In return, it was agreed with the prosecution that he would not serve more than five months in prison. According to the Trump Organization, Weisselberg himself was behind the scheme and did everything for his own benefit. The man is currently on paid leave and has testified that he has already earned over $1 million in salary, plus bonuses, this year.

Weisselberg pleaded guilty in August to concealing $1.76 million in income from taxes. He testified that Trump himself signed the Christmas bonus checks and paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Weisselberg Descendants Private School. In addition, the man said Trump’s two sons — who took over the company in 2017 after Trump became president — had given him a raise after learning of his tax fraud.

“The whole story that Donald Trump was blissfully clueless doesn’t add up,” Stenglass said.

According to Trump, his family “did not get any economic benefit from the actions of the CEO,” he wrote on his social media platform Truth Social on November 19. The former president, who announced on November 15 that he would run again in the 2024 election, calls the case a politically motivated “witch hunt”.

The Trump Organization is awaiting another fraud lawsuit brought by New York State Attorney Letitia James.

In addition, Trump himself is under investigation by the US Department of Justice for his handling of classified government documents after he left the White House in January 2021, and for the ways in which he attempted to nullify the results of the November 2020 election.