The company is said to have systematically cheated the tax authorities. Trump’s companies face fines. A chief financial officer goes to jail.
WASHINGTON, DC — The Trump Organization faces a court hearing in New York Monday (October 24) after an investigation found Donald Trump’s company gave out perks to employees. According to several US media outlets, the lawsuit involves luxury homes and cars for top Trump Organization executives, including the company’s longtime chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg.
Between 2005 and 2021, the company is said to have systematically cheated the tax authorities. In June 2021, Weisselberg resigned from his position as chief financial officer of the Trump Organization. A few weeks later, he pleaded guilty to a total of 15 charges – including conspiracy, tax fraud, aggravated theft and falsifying business documents.
Trial against Trump organization starts: Weisselberg faces 15 years in prison
Weisselberg will serve a five-month sentence on Rikers Island in New York City and pay $2 million in taxes and penalties for his role. He received over $1.7 million in untaxed gifts like a Mercedes and a fancy Manhattan apartment. If he should lie, he even faces 15 years in prison.
“The purpose of the plan was to compensate Weisselberg and other Trump Organization executives in a manner that was not on the books,” the indictment documents said.
Trump calls trial a ‘witch hunt’
The Trump team tried to fill the jury only with Trump fans. The former president calls the whole thing a “political witch hunt by left-wing Democrats”. A $250 million civil lawsuit is also pending against Trump and his heirs and Weisselberg for financial fraud.
That lawsuit alleges that Trump artificially inflated his wealth to obtain bank loans and benefited from tax breaks. When he took office as US President in January 2017, Donald Trump announced his retirement from the top of his group of companies, which consists of many smaller companies. He had passed this on to Weisselberg and his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. (mse with dpa)
