of New York the court imposed a fine of 1.6 million dollars on Friday ASV former President Donald Trump’s family company, the Trump Organization, for tax fraud, a blow to Trump as he plans to run for president again.
Content will continue after the ad
Advertising
The Trump Organization’s Trump Corporation and Trump Payroll Corp. were found guilty in December of running a 13-year tax evasion scheme by falsifying business documents.
Jurors accepted the prosecution’s charge that the Trump Organization, which is currently run by the former president’s grown sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, hid various benefits received by the company’s top executives from 2005 to 2021. So, for example, they had the opportunity to use luxury cars, the rent of which was paid by the company, their children’s education in elite schools was paid for, and they also stayed in luxury apartments in buildings owned by Trump without paying rent.
After the verdict was announced, the Trump Organization announced on Friday that it would appeal.
The $1.6 million is twice the amount that was not paid in taxes, or the maximum fine the court could have imposed.
The company’s longtime CFO, Allen Weiselberg, has pleaded guilty to 15 counts of tax fraud and testified against his former employer as part of a plea deal.
Weiselberg, 75, who is a close friend of the Trump family, admitted to participating in the scheme to receive undeclared benefits, including an apartment in a posh Manhattan neighborhood, luxury cars for himself and his wife, and private school tuition for his grandchildren.
Weiselberg agreed to pay a fine of about two million dollars and serve five months in prison. This sentence was confirmed by the court on Tuesday.
Trump, who has called the accusations a “witch hunt” by rivals, is not himself involved in the case.
