The company of donald trump it was fined on friday with $1.6 million as punishment for a scheme in which the top executives of the former president they evaded personal income taxes in luxurious labor perksa symbolic blow, hardly paralyzing for a company that boasts billions of dollars in assets.
A fine was the only penalty a judge could impose on the Trump Organization for its conviction last month for 17 tax offensesincluding conspiracy and falsification of business records.
The amount imposed by the judge Juan Manuel Merchan was the maximum allowed by law, an amount equal to the double taxes that a small group of executives shirked on benefits that included rent-free apartments in Trump buildings, luxury cars and private school tuition.
Own Trump was not tried and denied knowing of their executives illegally evading taxes.
The Trump Organization Was Indicted Through Its Affiliates trump corpwho was fined $810,000Y Trump Payroll Corp.which was imposed another fine of $800,000.
Although the fines – less than the cost of a Trump Tower apartment – are not large enough to affect the company’s operations or future, the conviction is a black mark on the republican’s reputation as a savvy businessman while mounting a campaign to take back the White House.
Neither the former president nor his sons, who helped run and promote the Trump Organization, were in the room for the sentencing hearing.
The prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said the fines constitute “a fraction of the revenue” of the Trump Organization and that the scheme was “powerful and cheeky”.
“All these corrupt practices were part of the compensation package for the executives of the Trump Organization, and it was certainly cheaper than paying higher salaries to those executives,” he said.
Defense attorneys had argued that the fine should be slightly less because, they said, state law prohibits fines for multiple counts of the same charge. They estimated that the fine should have been $750,000 or less for each of the two Trump entities.
The company requested 30 days to pay the fine, but the judge ordered it to pay within 14.
Other than the company, only one executive was charged in the case: the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, Allen Weisselbergwho pleaded guilty last summer to tax evasion over compensation from $1.7 million.
He was sentenced Tuesday to five months in jail.
Trump has said the case against his company was part of a “Witch hunt” politically motivated campaign against him by vengeful democrats. The company’s lawyers have promised to appeal the verdict.
The criminal case concerned financial practices and wage agreements that the company stopped when Trump was elected president in 2016.
During his years as the company’s chief money man, Weisselberg had received a rent-free apartment in a Trump-branded building in Manhattan overlooking the Hudson River. He and his wife drove Mercedes-Benz cars, rented by the company. When his grandchildren went to an exclusive private school, Trump paid their tuition.
A handful of other executives received similar perks.
When called to testify against the Trump Organization at trial, Weisselberg testified that he did not pay taxes on that compensation, and that he and a vice president of the company conspired to hide the benefits causing the company to issue falsified W-2 forms.
Weisselberg also tried to take responsibility on the stand, saying no one in the Trump family knew what he was doing. He choked as he told jurors: “It was my own personal greed that led to this.”
Lawyers for the Trump Organization repeated the mantra: “Weisselberg did it for Weisselberg”maintaining that he had gone rogue and had betrayed the trust of the company.
Assistant District Attorney, Joshua Steinglassattempted to refute that claim in his closing argument, showing jurors a lease signed by Trump himself for Weisselberg’s apartment.
“Mr. Trump is explicitly sanctioning the fiscal fraud”Steinglass argued.
A jury convicted the company of tax fraud on December 6.
The fine will barely make a dent in the results of a company with a global portfolio of golf courses, hotels and real estate developments. You could face more trouble out of court due to the damage to your reputation, such as difficulty finding new deals and business partners.
The Trump Organization’s conviction and sentencing does not end Trump’s battle with the Manhattan district attorney, the Democrat Alvin Bragg, who took office in January. Bragg has said that a Trump-related investigation begun under his predecessor, Cyrus Vance Jr, is “active and ongoing”with a newly hired prosecutor leading the prosecution.
At the same time, the New York attorney general, Letitia Jamesis suing Trump and the Trump Organization, alleging they misled banks and others about the value of their many assets, a practice she dubbed the “art of theft”.
James, a Democrat, asks a court to ban Trump and his three oldest children run any New York-based company and intends to fine them at least $250 million. A judge has set a trial date for October. As a preliminary measure, he appointed a company supervisor while the case is pending.
Trump faces other legal challenges in his bid to reoccupy the White House in 2024.
A special Atlanta grand jury has investigated whether Trump and his allies committed any wrongdoing while trying to overturn their 2020 election loss in Georgia.
Last month, the House committee on January 6 voted to submit a criminal case to the Department of Justice for Trump’s role in the unleashing of the violent insurrection in the Capitol from United States. The FBI is also investigating Trump’s storage of classified documents.
(With information from AP)
Keep reading:
Former Trump Organization CFO Sentenced to 5 Months in Jail for Tax Fraud
The Parliamentary Committee concluded that Donald Trump was responsible for the assault on the United States Capitol
Trump did not pay any income taxes during his last full year as president
Source-www.infobae.com