Video After The Jump
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s company & its longtime finance chief were charged Thursday in what a prosecutor called a “sweeping & audacious” tax fraud scheme that saw the Trump executive allegedly receive more than $1.7 million in off-the-books compensation, including apartment rent, car payments & school tuition.
It is the first criminal case New York authorities’ two-year investigation into the former president has yielded. According to the indictment filed Wednesday & unveiled Thursday, from 2005 through this year, CFO Allen Weisselberg & the Trump Organization cheated the state and city out of taxes by conspiring to pay senior executives off the books.
Both Weisselberg & lawyers for the Trump Organization pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutor Carey Dunne described a 15-year scheme “orchestrated by the most senior executives.”
Trump himself was not charged at this stage of the investigation, jointly pursued by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. & New York Attorney General Letitia James, both Democrats.
Weiiselberg, 73, was photographed walking into a building that houses both the criminal courts and the Manhattan district attorney’s office around 6:20 a.m. Thursday. He was led into court in the afternoon with his hands cuffed behind his back.
Weisselberg’s lawyers, Mary Mulligan & Bryan Skarlatos, said in a statement before his appearance that the executive would “fight these charges in court.” Skarlatos later said Dunne’s remarks were misleading in regard to his client.
Weisselberg was ordered to surrender his passport after prosecutors called him a flight risk with access to private jets for foreign travel. He was released without bail, however, & left the courthouse without commenting to assembled reporters.
A lieutenant to generations of Trumps, Weisselberg has intimate knowledge of the former president’s business dealings & the case could give prosecutors the means to pressure him into cooperating with an ongoing probe into other aspects of the company’s business.
So far, though, there’s no sign that the man regarded by Trump’s daughter Ivanka as a “fiercely loyal” deputy who’s “stood alongside my father & our family” for decades will suddenly turn on them.
#donaldtrump #trump #trumporganization #trumporganizationindictedfortaxfraud #taxfraud #unclesam #irs #allenweisselberg #allenweisselbergindictedtaxfraud #allenweisselbergtrumporganization #ivankatrump #donaldtrumpjr #melaniatrump #investigation #cryrusvancejr #letitiajames #districtattorney #attorneygeneral #newyorkcity #handcuffed #rudygiuliani #joebiden #presidentbiden #kamalaharris #mattgaetz #marjorietaylorgreene #gop #republicans #democrats
Follow Me
}
Comments