Trump Organization, CFO enter not guilty pleas
(The Center Square) – The Trump Organization and Allen Weisselberg, the company’s chief financial officer, entered pleas of not guilty to charges of tax fraud in a New York City courtroom Thursday.
A grand jury returned an indictment Wednesday levying 15 charges against the defendants. Over the past 16 years, authorities claim both Weisselberg and the company devised a scheme to pay executives, including Weisselberg, through disguised compensation.
“The scheme was intended to allow certain employees to substantially understate their compensation from the Trump Organization, so they could and did pay federal, state and local taxes in amounts that were significantly less than the amounts that should have been paid,” the indictment read.
For Weisselberg, who started as an accountant for the company 48 years ago and worked his way up the company, that meant he got nearly $1.8 million in compensation by getting rent on an apartment, private school tuition for family members and leases on Mercedes Benz vehicles for him and his wife paid directly by the Trump Organization.
As a result, authorities say the Trump executive avoided paying $556,385 in federal taxes, $106,568 in state taxes and $238,159 in city taxes. Also, his allegedly falsified tax returns allowed him to claim $94,902 in federal tax refunds and $38,222 in state refunds.
Weisselberg entered the courtroom Thursday afternoon in handcuffs and was escorted by federal law enforcement officials. He reportedly surrendered to authorities earlier in the day.
The charges come after the Manhattan District Attorney’s office and the
The Manhattan D.A.’s and the New York Attorney General’s Office have investigated the Trump Organization for more than two years. Manhattan prosecutors sought both the company’s and Donald Trump’s tax returns as part of the inquiry. Twice the district attorney’s office went to the U.S. Supreme Court to seek access to them.
In a statement, New York Attorney General Letitia James said the indictments serve as an “important marker” in the case.
“This investigation will continue, and we will follow the facts and the law wherever they may lead,” she said.
The former president issued a statement Thursday afternoon after the arraignment saying the “political witch hunt” was now being led by New York officials.
Through a spokesperson, the Trump Organization released its own statement saying prosecutors were using Weisselberg as a pawn in a “scorched earth attempt” to go after the ex-president.
“The District Attorney is bringing a criminal prosecution involving employee benefits that neither the IRS nor any other District Attorney would ever think of bringing,” the statement said. “This is not justice; this is politics.”
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