Two subsidiaries of the Trump Organization were convicted Tuesday by a jury in Recent York City of multiple crimes, including tax fraud, falsifying business records and conspiracy.
The guilty verdicts on all 17 charged counts come three weeks after the corporate’s owner, Republican former President Donald Trump, declared his candidacy for the White House within the 2024 election.
Trump was not personally a defendant within the case, which related to a scheme by his company since 2005 to avoid taxes on compensation in the shape of perks including free apartments and luxury cars to then-chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg and other executives.
But Trump “knew exactly what was occurring,” a prosecutor said in closing arguments last week in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Trump in an announcement Tuesday evening said he was “dissatisfied with the decision, but will appeal.”
Jurors began deliberations on Monday after a trial that featured testimony by Weisselberg, the one person actually charged within the case by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr.’s office.
Defense lawyers had argued that Weisselberg — who earlier pleaded guilty to fifteen felony charges — was solely chargeable for the scheme, not the Trump Organization.
Trump reiterated this claim in his statement Tuesday, saying: “This case was about Allen Weisselberg committing tax fraud on his personal tax returns, etc., with he and each witness repeatedly testifying that President Trump and the Trump Family knew nothing about his actions, which he admits were done solely for his own profit, and with no profit to the 2 firms.”
Trump’s company faces fines of as much as $1.6 million at sentencing. The guilty verdicts also could harm the firm’s ability to acquire loans for its various real estate holdings and other business ventures.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg exits the courtroom on the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse following the decision in Trump Organization’s criminal tax trial in Recent York City, December 6, 2022.
Eduardo Munoz | Reuters
Trump, three of his adult children, and the Trump Organization also still face a pending civil lawsuit by Recent York Attorney General Letitia James that alleges widespread fraud involving years of false financial statements related to the corporate. James is looking for at the very least $250 million in damages in that case.
One in all the subsidiaries charged within the criminal case, the Trump Corporation, was convicted of nine counts. The opposite defendant, the Trump Payroll Corporation, was convicted of the remaining seven counts.
Trump in a post on his Truth Social account Tuesday before the verdicts were announced, falsely described the crime rate in his native Recent York City as he blasted Bragg for prosecuting his company.
“Murder and Violent Crime is at an all time high in NYC, and the D.A.’s office has spent just about all of its time & money fighting a political Witch Hunt for D.C. against ‘Trump’ over Fringe Advantages,” Trump wrote.
The previous president is the main focus of multiple criminal probes, including federal investigations into his removal of presidency documents from the White House, and his efforts to reverse the final result of his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.
A state grand jury in Georgia is investigating Trump and his allies for his or her attempts to get election officials there to reverse his loss within the state to Biden.
