Current:Home > BackThe Trump Organization has been ordered to pay $1.61 million for tax fraud-LoTradeCoin
The Trump Organization has been ordered to pay $1.61 million for tax fraud
View Date:2024-12-23 11:53:09
NEW YORK — A state court in New York has ordered two companies owned by former President Donald Trump to pay $1.61 million in fines and penalties for tax fraud.
The amount, the maximum allowed under state sentencing guidelines, is due within 14 days of Friday's sentencing.
"This conviction was consequential, the first time ever for a criminal conviction of former President Trump's companies," said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Bragg said he thinks the financial penalty for decades of fraudulent behavior wasn't severe enough.
"Our laws in this state need to change in order to capture this type of decade-plus systemic and egregious fraud," he said.
Kimberly Benza, a spokeswoman for the Trump Organization, issued a statement describing the prosecution as political and saying the company plans to appeal.
"New York has become the crime and murder capital of the world, yet these politically motivated prosecutors will stop at nothing to get President Trump and continue the never ending witch-hunt which began the day he announced his presidency," the statement read.
The sentence comes after a Manhattan jury found Donald Trump's family enterprise guilty of all charges last month in a long-running tax-fraud scheme.
Trump himself was not charged, though his name was mentioned frequently at trial, and his signature appeared on some of the documents at the heart of the case.
Earlier this week, the long-time chief financial officer to Trump's various business entities, Allen Weisselberg, was sentenced to five months behind bars for his role in the criminal scheme.
Trump's family business is known as the Trump Organization, but in fact consists of hundreds of business entities, including the Trump Corporation and the Trump Payroll Corporation.
Weisselberg, 75, worked side-by-side with Trump for decades, and was described by Trump's attorneys as being like a member of the family.
Last summer, he agreed to plead guilty and serve as the star witness.
In the statement, Trump Organization spokeswoman Benza suggested Weisselberg had been coerced into turning against the company.
"Allen Weisselberg is a victim. He was threatened, intimidated and terrorized. He was given a choice of pleading guilty and serving 90 days in prison or serving the rest of his life in jail — all of this over a corporate car and standard employee benefits," the statement read.
At the heart of the case were a variety of maneuvers that allowed Weisselberg and other top executives to avoid paying taxes on their income from the Trump businesses.
The Trump businesses also benefited.
For example, the Trump Corporation gave yearly bonuses to some staffers (signed and distributed by Trump) as if they were independent contractors.
Weisselberg acknowledged on the stand that the move enabled the Trump business to avoid Medicare and payroll taxes.
Weisselberg also improperly took part in a tax-advantaged retirement plan that is only supposed to be open to true freelancers.
While the size of the fine is too small to significantly harm the overall Trump business, there are other implications.
Being designated a convicted felon could make it harder for the Trump Organization to obtain loans or work with insurers.
And the legal peril for the Trump business does not end here.
According to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, this chapter of the criminal investigation of Trump and his businesses is over but a wider investigation of Trump's business practices is ongoing.
A sprawling civil suit from New York Attorney General Letitia James is also scheduled to go to trial in the fall.
veryGood! (828)
Related
- Prayers and cheeseburgers? Chiefs have unlikely fuel for inexplicable run
- Jeep slashes 2025 Grand Cherokee prices
- Democrat George Whitesides wins election to US House, beating incumbent Mike Garcia
- Controversial comedian Shane Gillis announces his 'biggest tour yet'
- Joey Logano wins Phoenix finale for 3rd NASCAR Cup championship in 1-2 finish for Team Penske
- 10 Trendy Bags To Bring to All of Your Holiday Plans
- Armie Hammer Says His Mom Gifted Him a Vasectomy for His 38th Birthday
- Olivia Munn began randomly drug testing John Mulaney during her first pregnancy
- Food prices worried most voters, but Trump’s plans likely won’t lower their grocery bills
- Bev Priestman fired as Canada women’s soccer coach after review of Olympic drone scandal
Ranking
- Georgia State University is planning a $107M remake of downtown Atlanta
- Kansas basketball vs Michigan State live score updates, highlights, how to watch Champions Classic
- Deion Sanders doubles down on vow to 99-year-old Colorado superfan
- Keke Palmer Says Ryan Murphy “Ripped” Into Her Over Scream Queens Schedule
- Kirk Herbstreit berates LSU fans throwing trash vs Alabama: 'Enough is enough, clowns'
- Officer injured at Ferguson protest shows improvement, transferred to rehab
- Minnesota man is free after 16 years in prison for murder that prosecutors say he didn’t commit
- Controversial comedian Shane Gillis announces his 'biggest tour yet'
Recommendation
-
Multi-State Offshore Wind Pact Weakened After Connecticut Sits Out First Selection
-
Shawn Mendes quest for self-discovery is a quiet triumph: Best songs on 'Shawn' album
-
New Yorkers vent their feelings over the election and the Knicks via subway tunnel sticky notes
-
Queen Elizabeth II's Final 5-Word Diary Entry Revealed
-
Why was Jalen Ramsey traded? Dolphins CB facing former team on 'Monday Night Football'
-
Panel advises Illinois commemorate its role in helping slaves escape the South
-
Monument erected in Tulsa for victims of 1921 Race Massacre
-
Guns smuggled from the US are blamed for a surge in killings on more Caribbean islands