Trump Organization Sentenced to Pay $1.6 Million For Tax Fraud
Former President Donald Trump’s company was convicted in December on 17 counts of tax fraud and other financial crime charges.
The entrance to Trump Tower on 5th Avenue is pictured in the Manhattan borough of New York City, U.S., May 19, 2021.
Former President Donald Trump’s company on Friday was sentenced to pay $1.6 million – the maximum allowed by law – following its conviction in December of tax fraud and other financial crimes.
While the sum is negligible to a company like the Trump Organization, it underscores the severity of the crimes, dealing another blow to the reputation of both the company and Trump himself.
The sentence was handed down by a judge in the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan and puts a pin in a lengthy investigation and ensuing legal battle over the Trump Organization’s financial practices.
The Trump Organization was convicted in December on all 17 counts of financial crimes for a long-running scheme in which executives doctored the company's books to avoid paying taxes on lavish perks, including Manhattan apartments, luxury cars and private school tuition.
The sentence comes after the company’s long-term financial chief, Allen Weisselberg, was sentenced Tuesday to five months in jail. Weisselberg pleaded guilty to fraud charges and became the prosecution’s star witness in exchange for a reduced sentence.
Prosecutors did not indict Trump himself but accused him of knowing what was going on – and even of approving key parts of the scheme himself.
Trump has maintained that he did nothing wrong, and Trump Organization lawyers throughout the trial argued that Weisselberg and other executives operated alone with neither Trump nor any of his family members involved. But prosecutors said that Trump was “explicitly sanctioning tax fraud,” showing jurors documents, including a lease signed by Trump for one of Weisselberg’s properties.
0 Comments