Initial pleas in criminal trial for tax fraud Trump
The Trump Organization trial began in New York on Monday. That reports American media.
wverSource: BELGA
The Trump Organization, long controlled by former US President Donald Trump, is at the center of the criminal case in the US state of New York. In the summer of 2021, a Manhattan prosecutor indicted the Trump Organization and longtime financial director Allen Weisselberg on charges including tax fraud. Trump himself has not been charged and is unlikely to testify, according to media reports.
According to the prosecutor, the company systematically defrauded the tax authorities from 2005 to 2021 under Weisselberg’s supervision. In doing so, tax-free benefits such as luxury cars and expensive surcharges are hidden from Weisselberg and other executives. The Trump Organization and another company in the group face a fine of up to $1.7 million, according to the New York Times.
15 charges
In June 2021, Weisselberg resigned as finance head of the Trump Organization. A few weeks later, he pleaded falsehood to a total of 15 charges, including conspiracy, tax fraud, theft and forging company documents. The 75-year-old escaped a possible up to 15 years. Instead, he must pay a total of nearly $2 million in taxes and fines owed and was given five months and five additional years of probation. In return, he agreed to allow the company to testify in the trial, but not to Trump himself.
According to the public broadcaster NPR, the Trump Organization pleads not guilty. Trump has also repeatedly said he is a victim of political prosecutors. When he took office as US president in January 2017, Donald Trump announced his retirement group of companies, made up of many smaller companies. He passed the leadership on to Weisselberg and his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.
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