Post by account_disabled on Feb 19, 2024 22:29:02 GMT -6
According to CBS News , Trump's companies are guilty, after being accused of fraud and tax evasion by a New York jury, in a serious blow to his reputation and aspirations to return to the White House in 2024.
Both Trump and his defense party maintain that former President Donald Trump's family business, Trump Organization, was betrayed by the company's then financial director, Allen Weisselberg, for not knowing what was happening. However, Weisselberg, along with two other witnesses described a series of methods used by the Organization's executives to evade taxes and payroll liabilities on large bonuses and lavish benefits.
Verdict finds Trump companies to blame
The two Trump Organization companies, called Trump Corporation and Trump Payroll Corporation, were charged in July 2021, along with the company's former chief financial officer, with defrauding tax authorities by failing to report and pay taxes on the compensation of the top executives.
In the case, the testimony of Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty in August and agreed to testify against the company as part of a deal with prosecutors, has been key. He is expected to face a five-month jail sentence.
According to his testimony, Weisselberg admitted that he should have paid taxes on the compensation, totaling about $200,000 in one year, which included a luxury apartment in Manhattan overlooking the Hudson River, two Mercedes Benz cars, parking, utilities public funds, furniture and private school tuition for their grandchildren.
He also admitted that he paid himself and other executives' bonuses as if they were independent consultants, allowing Trump's companies to avoid paying taxes on them.
Weisselberg testified that he pulled off the scheme with the help of his subordinate, Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney, one of the witnesses who received immunity from testifying before the grand jury.
Weisselberg said he and McConney knew the company would pay less payroll taxes through the scheme, although he said they never explicitly discussed it.
CNN.
They "clean up" Trump Organization during Donald Trump's presidential term
Continuing with witness statements, they pointed to an internal "cleansing" at the Trump Organization in 2017, after Trump donkeyumed the US presidency. The company hired an outside lawyer to examine its tax practices. The review led the company to cease many of the practices that led to these criminal charges.
For their part, the Organization's lawyers pointed out that both Trump and the company were betrayed by Weisselberg and accused outside accountant Donald Bender—another of the key witnesses in the case—of failing to protect Weisselberg's company.
Prosecutors also noted that Weisselberg Chile Mobile Number List was one of several executives who received large bonuses and benefits that were not reported as salaries. “The fact that this was sanctioned, and that the practice was known to Mr. Trump, directly refutes that incorrect narrative that the defense has been weaving since day one of this trial [regarding Trump being unaware of the situation],” he said. prosecutor Joshua Steingldonkey to New York judge Juan Merchan.
Defense attorneys insisted that Trump was unaware of the schemes unfolding beneath him, and portrayed Trump and two of his sons, Eric and Donald Trump Jr., as ignorant of Weisselberg's efforts to convert financial benefits in tax-free compensation. Prosecutors say Trump approved them.
Trump's Corporate Social Responsibility
The verdict finding Trump's companies guilty of fraud and tax evasion could cost the company a maximum of $1.61 million in fines when it is sentenced in mid-January 2023. Alan Futerfas, a lawyer for the Trump Organization, said the company will file an appeal.
trump-tax-evasion
In a statement, the Trump Organization pointed to Weisselberg's testimony that he had "betrayed" the company's trust and "acted 'solely' for his 'personal benefit,'" and said: "The notion that a company could be held liable of an employee's actions, to benefit himself, on his own personal tax returns is simply absurd.
However, for the authority, the illegal plan for employees to earn a higher salary while costing the Trump Corporation less was a win-win situation for everyone except the tax authorities. And a situation that Trump was aware of.
Trump personally signed his employees' Christmas bonus checks and initialed a memo reducing the pay of other top executives, which prosecutors said suggested he knew about the fraudulent scheme all along, and therefore, their legal responsibility and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the case.
In a statement following the verdict finding Trump's companies guilty, New York Attorney General Letitia James said: "I congratulate Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his team for their successful prosecution of the Trump Organization, and I am proud to help in this important case. "This verdict sends a clear message that no one, and no organization, is above our laws.
Both Trump and his defense party maintain that former President Donald Trump's family business, Trump Organization, was betrayed by the company's then financial director, Allen Weisselberg, for not knowing what was happening. However, Weisselberg, along with two other witnesses described a series of methods used by the Organization's executives to evade taxes and payroll liabilities on large bonuses and lavish benefits.
Verdict finds Trump companies to blame
The two Trump Organization companies, called Trump Corporation and Trump Payroll Corporation, were charged in July 2021, along with the company's former chief financial officer, with defrauding tax authorities by failing to report and pay taxes on the compensation of the top executives.
In the case, the testimony of Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty in August and agreed to testify against the company as part of a deal with prosecutors, has been key. He is expected to face a five-month jail sentence.
According to his testimony, Weisselberg admitted that he should have paid taxes on the compensation, totaling about $200,000 in one year, which included a luxury apartment in Manhattan overlooking the Hudson River, two Mercedes Benz cars, parking, utilities public funds, furniture and private school tuition for their grandchildren.
He also admitted that he paid himself and other executives' bonuses as if they were independent consultants, allowing Trump's companies to avoid paying taxes on them.
Weisselberg testified that he pulled off the scheme with the help of his subordinate, Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney, one of the witnesses who received immunity from testifying before the grand jury.
Weisselberg said he and McConney knew the company would pay less payroll taxes through the scheme, although he said they never explicitly discussed it.
CNN.
They "clean up" Trump Organization during Donald Trump's presidential term
Continuing with witness statements, they pointed to an internal "cleansing" at the Trump Organization in 2017, after Trump donkeyumed the US presidency. The company hired an outside lawyer to examine its tax practices. The review led the company to cease many of the practices that led to these criminal charges.
For their part, the Organization's lawyers pointed out that both Trump and the company were betrayed by Weisselberg and accused outside accountant Donald Bender—another of the key witnesses in the case—of failing to protect Weisselberg's company.
Prosecutors also noted that Weisselberg Chile Mobile Number List was one of several executives who received large bonuses and benefits that were not reported as salaries. “The fact that this was sanctioned, and that the practice was known to Mr. Trump, directly refutes that incorrect narrative that the defense has been weaving since day one of this trial [regarding Trump being unaware of the situation],” he said. prosecutor Joshua Steingldonkey to New York judge Juan Merchan.
Defense attorneys insisted that Trump was unaware of the schemes unfolding beneath him, and portrayed Trump and two of his sons, Eric and Donald Trump Jr., as ignorant of Weisselberg's efforts to convert financial benefits in tax-free compensation. Prosecutors say Trump approved them.
Trump's Corporate Social Responsibility
The verdict finding Trump's companies guilty of fraud and tax evasion could cost the company a maximum of $1.61 million in fines when it is sentenced in mid-January 2023. Alan Futerfas, a lawyer for the Trump Organization, said the company will file an appeal.
trump-tax-evasion
In a statement, the Trump Organization pointed to Weisselberg's testimony that he had "betrayed" the company's trust and "acted 'solely' for his 'personal benefit,'" and said: "The notion that a company could be held liable of an employee's actions, to benefit himself, on his own personal tax returns is simply absurd.
However, for the authority, the illegal plan for employees to earn a higher salary while costing the Trump Corporation less was a win-win situation for everyone except the tax authorities. And a situation that Trump was aware of.
Trump personally signed his employees' Christmas bonus checks and initialed a memo reducing the pay of other top executives, which prosecutors said suggested he knew about the fraudulent scheme all along, and therefore, their legal responsibility and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the case.
In a statement following the verdict finding Trump's companies guilty, New York Attorney General Letitia James said: "I congratulate Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his team for their successful prosecution of the Trump Organization, and I am proud to help in this important case. "This verdict sends a clear message that no one, and no organization, is above our laws.