By HENG WEILI in New York | China Daily Global | Updated: 2021-07-02 10:35 Share CLOSE Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg exits after his arraignment hearing in New York State Supreme Court in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, July 1, 2021. [Photo/Agencies]
The company that bears former US president Donald Trump s name along with its chief financial officer were indicted by the Manhattan district attorney s office Thursday on charges of tax and benefits fraud.
The Trump Organization and Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg were charged with having plotted since 2005 to defraud tax authorities through the awarding of benefits to company executives off the books.
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Prosecutors allege that Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer, evaded more than $900,000 in taxes by taking part of his annual pay in benefits including apartments, luxury cars and a cash bonus at the holidays, described in financial records as “holiday entertainment.”
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Judges are often reluctant to sentence elderly defendants with no prior record to prison time, said Ethan Greenberg, a retired New York judge who is now a defense lawyer. But the indictment – detailing a deliberate scheme to avoid taxes on $1.7 million in income over 16 years – “convinces me, and should convince Weisselberg, that a substantial prison sentence is possible,” Greenberg said.
Updated July 1, 2021 at 6:22 PM ET
Former President Donald Trump s family business and its longtime chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, have been charged by the Manhattan district attorney s office in a case involving an array of alleged tax-related crimes.
In an indictment unsealed Thursday, prosecutors allege that starting from as early as 2005 and up until last month, the Trump Organization and Weisselberg have committed tax fraud and falsified business records as part of a scheme to compensate executives at the Trump Organization off the books. The goal, prosecutors claim, was to avoid paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes by compensating employees with lavish perks in addition to their regular pay.
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Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg exits after his arraignment hearing in New York State Supreme Court in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., July 1, 2021. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
July 1 (Reuters) - The sweeping tax-fraud indictment unsealed on Thursday against Donald Trump s longtime accountant Allen Weisselberg threatens the 73-year-old executive with years in prison and puts heavy pressure on him to implicate the former U.S. president.
Prosecutors allege that Weisselberg, the Trump Organization s chief financial officer, evaded more than $900,000 in taxes by taking part of his annual pay in benefits including apartments, luxury cars and a cash bonus at the holidays, described in financial records as “holiday entertainment.