🧾 Trump Organization convicted on 17 tax fraud counts

A Manhattan jury convicted two Trump Organization companies on every count they faced on December 6, 2022, USA Today reported. The Trump Corporation was found guilty on nine counts, the Trump Payroll Corporation on eight. That makes 17. Donald Trump was not charged.

The money first. NBC News reported that the company faced up to about $1.6 million in penalties if convicted on all counts, and The New York Times put the maximum at $1.62 million, calling it "a pittance for Mr. Trump." The sentence that was actually imposed is not in the documents MrMoney read. CBS News reported that sentencing was expected on January 13, 2023, and the Times reported the company would be sentenced on a Friday after January 10. Treat the ceiling as the ceiling, not the bill.

What the filing said the company did

The Times reported that the case rested on off-the-books perks for executives: luxury apartments, leased Mercedes-Benzes, extra cash at Christmas, even free cable television. They paid taxes on none of it. Prosecutors told the court the company kept two sets of books, per The Washington Post. One tallied the benefits internally. The documents sent to tax authorities left them out.

CNN reported that the indictment described a scheme stretching back to 2005 and said the company tracked what it spent on Allen Weisselberg's rent, utilities and garage in internal spreadsheets. A thorough spreadsheet is a fine thing to have, right up until a jury reads it.

What it cost Allen Weisselberg

Weisselberg, the company's longtime chief financial officer, was charged with 15 felony counts on July 1, 2021 and pleaded not guilty, The Washington Post reported. Prosecutors said he evaded more than $900,000 in taxes. On August 18, 2022 he pleaded guilty to all 15 counts, and CNN reported he admitted failing to pay taxes on $1.7 million in income, including rent on a Manhattan apartment, leases on two Mercedes-Benz cars and his grandchildren's private school tuition.

The deal, as CNN described it, required nearly $2 million in back taxes, interest and penalties, five months in jail, five years of probation and a waiver of his right to appeal. The Manhattan district attorney's office put the repayment at $1.9 million, per The Washington Post. His lawyer, Nicholas Gravante Jr., said in a statement that Weisselberg took the deal rather than "risk the possibility of 15 years in prison."

"The entire case was driven by greed."

Justice Juan Merchan at Weisselberg's sentencing, per The New York Times, January 10, 2023

The trial: he testified, and said the boss did not know

Weisselberg took the stand as the prosecution's star witness. Politico reported he testified that he received $1.76 million in untaxed perks and that he knew his tax forms underreported his income. The Times reported that he said Trump personally paid the grandchildren's tuition, yet never implicated the former president in the scheme. AP reported he took care not to implicate Trump, saying his boss was unaware of it.

"Weisselberg did it for Weisselberg"

Defense attorney Micheal van der Veen, closing argument, per USA Today

Prosecutors told jurors the opposite about Trump. CBS News reported Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass said in closing that the practice "was known to Mr. Trump." The Times reported that no evidence emerged that Trump knew executives had failed to pay taxes on the payouts. Trump was not charged.

The responses

In a statement the Times quoted, Trump said he was "disappointed with the verdict" and planned to appeal, and blamed Weisselberg for "committing tax fraud on his personal tax returns." The company called the idea of holding it responsible for an employee's actions "simply preposterous." Company lawyer Alan Futerfas told CBS News the company would "certainly" appeal. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg called the verdict "a very just result."

The pay, per the testimony

The loyalty ran both ways, at least on paper. Politico reported Weisselberg testified that he kept drawing a $640,000 salary after his plea and hoped for his usual $500,000 bonus. The Times reported the company parted ways with him on the day of his sentencing, and AP reported in April 2023 that the Trump Organization was making severance payments to him and paying his legal bills.