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On Tuesday, December 6, a New York court found the Trump Organization guilty on 17 counts of tax fraud and falsifying business records.
As per BBC, prosecutors claimed that Trump Organization executives had a history of falsifying compensation records to evade taxes.
As per CBS, the case centers around two subsidiaries of the Trump organization, the Trump Corporation and the Trump Payroll Corporation. Both companies were indicted in July 2021.
The indictment also implicated Allen Weisselberg, the chief financial officer for the Trump Organization. In August of this year, Weisselberg admitted to the charges after agreeing to testify against the company.
Prosecutors claimed that, along with other executives, Weisselberg had failed to declare perks they received from the Trump Organization, such as luxury vehicles and private-school tuition. Executives were also accused of logging their annual bonus checks as payments to various independent contractors.
Further details of the charges against the Trump Organization
During the hearing, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg described the tax scheme as a highly sophisticated network embedded into the culture of the Trump Organization.
Bragg said:
"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."
Noting that the case was about "cheating" for the benefit of individuals and the Trump corporation, Bragg stated:
"This was a case about lying and cheating, false documents to the aid of evading taxes for the benefit of individuals and the corporation (...) Today’s verdict holds these Trump companies accountable for their long-running criminal scheme.”
Meanwhile, Prosecutor Joseph Steinglass said:
"The smorgasbord of benefits is designed to keep its top executives happy and loyal."
However, the legal defense team has claimed that Donald Trump and his family were unaware of the scheme and that it had primarily been conducted among certain employees.
Defense attorney Susan Necheles said:
"Every witness repeatedly testified that President Trump and the Trump family knew nothing about Allen Weisselberg's actions."
In his testimony, Weisselberg also claimed that he was running the scheme without the knowledge of the Trump family.
He said:
“It was a benefit to the company but primarily it was due to my greed."
Steinglass, however, claimed that Donald Trump was most likely aware and that the scheme was not just run for the benefit of Weisselberg and a select few executives.
“This whole narrative that Donald Trump is blissfully ignorant is just not true."
He elaborated:
“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.”
As per NPR, this is not the only case in which Donald Trump has recently been embroiled. The former President is currently involved in a federal probe into the 2021 Capitol Hill riots after accusations emerged that he swayed his supporters into attacking the Capitol Hill building after he lost the 2020 Presidential Election.
