A New York jury on Tuesday found two subsidiaries of Trump Organization, former President Donald Trump’s company, guilty on all counts of criminal tax fraud.
The New York Times reports the Manhattan jury convicted the Trump Organization on 17 counts including scheming to defraud, conspiracy, criminal tax fraud, and falsifying business records. The Trump Corporation and the Trump Payroll Corporation were also accused of paying executives’ personal expenses without reporting them as income, and for fraudulently classifying the executives as independent contractors instead of employees.
“This was a case about greed and cheating. In Manhattan, no corporation is above the law,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement. “For 13 years 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, in addition to chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, who has pled guilty, testified at trial and will now be sentenced to serve time in jail,” Bragg added.
According to the Manhattan DA’s office: “Over the course of the multi-year scheme, the Trump Corporation and the Trump Payroll Corporation defrauded federal, state, and local tax authorities by paying a number of their trusted executives and managers—including Chief Financial Officer Weisselberg, his son, chief operating officer Matthew Calamari, Sr., and his son—substantial amounts of their compensation in the form of ‘off the books’ personal expenses which the companies purposefully did not report in company tax reporting forms, so that those executives and managers could evade paying taxes on the income. Weisselberg, a prime beneficiary of the scheme, received a total of approximately $1.76 million in unreported compensation, including payment of rent on a luxury apartment in Manhattan, utilities and parking garage expenses, Mercedes Benz cars for himself and his wife, home furnishings, cash for personal holiday tips and payment of his grandchildren’s private school tuition. The companies failed to report that income to the tax authorities, failed to withhold taxes, and failed to pay Medicare taxes on that income.”
The verdict came less than a month after the twice-impeached former president—who was not a defendant in this case but faces various other legal issues—announced his bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Democratic New York state Attorney General Letitia James said that “today’s guilty verdict against the Trump Organization shows that we will hold individuals and organizations accountable when they violate our laws to line their pockets.”
Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor, tweeted that “this is a significant verdict—the Trump Organization is found guilty of serious felony fraud charges.”
“This will give even more leverage to New York Attorney General Tish James in her civil suit, which seeks extraordinary remedies that would cripple the company,” he added.
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Brett Wilkins is staff writer for Common Dreams.
