For the first time, a former president’s company has been convicted of criminal acts, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Trump Corporation and Trump Payroll Corp. were “pledged guilty to all charges,” the attorney said on Twitter. “This was a case of greed and fraud. In Manhattan, no company is above the law,” Bragg said.
After about two days of deliberation, a New York court jury found evidence that the group had failed to declare and tax additional benefits for top executives. Threatening a fine of more than $1.5 million. The exact sentence will be announced on January 13. Donald Trump has not been personally accused. The allegations against the Trump companies date back to 2005.
The CFO unpacks
For example, the longtime CFO of the family holding, Allen Weisselberg, received a luxury apartment in Manhattan, two Mercedes company cars for himself and his wife, and tuition for his grandchildren. As part of a deal with prosecutors, Trump’s confidant pleaded guilty and testified against the company.
The 75-year-old escaped a possible prison sentence of up to 15 years. He received only five months in prison and five years of probation. He also has to pay a total of almost two million US dollars in taxes and penalties owed.
The New York attorney’s office has been investigating Trump and his companies for three years. Trump, who just three weeks ago announced that he would run for president again in 2024, has repeatedly spoken of a “political witch hunt”.
The sentence increases the legal disputes with which the 76-year-old has to deal. In addition to other proceedings involving his company and Trump’s role in the storming of the Capitol in January 2021, the criminal investigation into the storage of top-secret documents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Florida estate is ongoing. Two weeks ago, the US Supreme Court ruled that the former president can no longer withhold his tax records from Congress. The fact that Trump recently invited prominent anti-Semite and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes and US rapper Kanye West to dinner also drew great resentment.
se/mak (rtr, ap, afp, dpa)
