Tax Fraud charges against Trump organization not dropped

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ASPartOfMe
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12 Aug 2022, 12:11 pm

Judge denies Trump Org and former CFO's motion to dismiss tax fraud indictment

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A New York state judge denied the Trump Organization and its former chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg's motions to dismiss tax fraud charges during a hearing Friday.

Judge Juan Merchan said he would grant a hearing to hear arguments over whether statements Weisselberg made while in custody the day of his arrest in July 2021 could be suppressed. The Manhattan district attorney's office did not oppose the hearing but opposed the motion.

Weisselberg and the Trump Organization were indicted last year on charges they were involved in a 15-year tax fraud scheme. They both pleaded not guilty.

The judge said jury selection would begin in the trial on October 24.


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Kraichgauer
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16 Aug 2022, 12:56 am

Karma might just be coming around to bite Trump on his orange a$$.


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DW_a_mom
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16 Aug 2022, 1:07 am

Tax fraud cases don't usually get started without a whole lot of evidence already in the bag. Fraud cases are not step one on the enforcement ladder.


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Matrix Glitch
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16 Aug 2022, 1:43 am

Kraichgauer wrote:
Karma might just be coming around to bite Trump on his orange a$$.

I'll probably still be hearing that two years from now.



Kraichgauer
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16 Aug 2022, 2:03 am

Matrix Glitch wrote:
Kraichgauer wrote:
Karma might just be coming around to bite Trump on his orange a$$.

I'll probably still be hearing that two years from now.


Meaning that Trump is going to slide? That's always a possibility, I suppose, but hopefully not.


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ASPartOfMe
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05 Dec 2022, 10:19 pm

Jury begins deliberations in Trump Organization criminal fraud trial

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A Manhattan jury began deliberations Monday on whether to convict former President Donald Trump's namesake real estate company of criminal tax fraud.

The deliberations began Monday morning following lengthy instructions on the law by Judge Juan Merchan, who reminded jurors that they pledged to set aside their personal opinions about Trump himself.

Two entities of the Trump Organization -- the Trump Corporation and the Trump Payroll Corporation -- are on trial for paying the personal expenses of some executives without reporting them as income, and for compensating them as independent contractors instead of full-time employees.

The jury sent one note to the judge asking about the elements required to prove conspiracy, before deliberations ended for the day. The jury is scheduled to reconvene on Tuesday.

Although Trump is not a defendant, his name came up repeatedly during the trial, and the jury saw checks he signed and memos he endorsed. The former president has publicly denied any wrongdoing.

Defense attorneys asked witnesses roughly 60 times about Trump's knowledge of the tax scheme that his company is charged with, as they sought to show that Trump was in the dark about the fraud being committed by his top executives, primarily Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization's longtime chief financial officer who pleaded guilty in August to charges that he skirted taxes on nearly $2 million in company-provided perks that included the rent on his Manhattan apartment, the leases on cars for himself and his wife, and tuition for his grandchildren.

Defense attorney Michael van der Veen said in his closing statement Friday that jurors "heard no evidence in this case that Mr. Trump or any of his children were aware of anything improper."

But prosecutors contended that Trump explicitly sanctioned tax fraud when he signed off on part of the scheme.

"This whole narrative that Donald Trump is blissfully ignorant is just not true," assistant district attorney Josh Steinglass said during his closing statement.

Prosecutors believe the Trump Organization is guilty because the arrangements that Weisselberg and other company executives made to evade taxes included some intent to help the company pay less in salaries, bonuses and payroll taxes.

The defense argued the executives never intended to benefit the company and that the scheme the executives hatched was motivated solely by personal greed.

The distinction is important because the judge told jurors that the Trump Organization is only guilty if a high managerial agent of the company acted in behalf of the company and within the scope of his employment.

A conviction would carry fines of up to $1.7 million. But collateral consequences of a conviction may be more significant to Trump, who is seeking a second term in the White House. Banks could call in loans and business partners could cancel contracts if their internal policies prevent them from doing business with felons.

Even absent a conviction, the trial revealed potentially embarrassing details about Trump, including that he reported nearly $1 billion in operating losses over a two-year period in 2009 and 2010.

Trump's outside accountant also testified that Trump reported losses each year for eight years from 2009 to 2018, some of the same years Trump was touting his business acumen on reality television and on the campaign trail.


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ASPartOfMe
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06 Dec 2022, 4:47 pm

Guilty on all 17 charges

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Two subsidiaries of the Trump Organization were convicted Tuesday by a jury in New York City of multiple crimes, including tax fraud, falsifying business records and conspiracy.

The guilty verdicts on all 17 charged counts come weeks after the company’s owner, Republican former President Donald Trump, declared his candidacy for the White House in the 2024 election.

Trump was not personally a defendant in the case, which was related to a scheme by his company to avoid taxes on compensation in the form of perks including free apartments and luxury cars to its then-chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg and other executives since 2005.

But a prosecutor in closing arguments said that Trump “knew exactly what was going on.”

Defense lawyers had argued that Weisselberg — who earlier pleaded guilty to 15 felony charges — was solely responsible for the scheme, not the Trump Organization.

Trump’s company faces fines of up to $1.6 million at sentencing in the case. The guilty verdicts also could harm the firm’s ability to obtain loans for its various real estate holdings and other business ventures,
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg exits the courtroom at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse following the verdict in Trump Organization's criminal tax trial in New York City, December 6, 2022.

rump, three of his adult children, and the Trump Organization also still face a pending civil lawsuit by New York Attorney General Letitia James that alleges widespread fraud involving years of false financial statements related to the company. James is seeking at least $250 million in damages in that case.

One of the subsidiaries charged in the criminal case, the Trump Corporation, was convicted of nine counts. The other defendant, the Trump Payroll Corporation, was convicted of the remaining seven counts.


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Kraichgauer
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06 Dec 2022, 6:19 pm

^^^
Hopefully this is just the beginning of Trump's downfall.


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06 Dec 2022, 6:25 pm

Kraichgauer wrote:
^^^
Hopefully this is just the beginning of Trump's downfall.


Three. Of. Spades. :D



MuddRM
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06 Dec 2022, 8:39 pm

Kraichgauer wrote:
^^^
Hopefully this is just the beginning of Trump's downfall.


Don’t count on it! Drump is made more of Teflon than Reagan ever was.



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06 Dec 2022, 10:15 pm

MuddRM wrote:
Kraichgauer wrote:
^^^
Hopefully this is just the beginning of Trump's downfall.


Don’t count on it! Drump is made more of Teflon than Reagan ever was.


They said that about John Gotti, but his luck eventually ran out.


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07 Dec 2022, 11:04 am

Kraichgauer wrote:
^^^
Hopefully this is just the beginning of Trump's downfall.

That it is. There's going to be a barrage of guilty verdicts all over the country and states/feds are going to be fighting over limited funds trumpy has to pay fines, and Hopefully they end up fighting over who gets to put tiny handcuffs on him and babysit him for the rest of his life. Good thing he likes wearing orange, though!


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kraftiekortie
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07 Dec 2022, 11:06 am

Basically, Trump can't do business in New York any longer.



Kraichgauer
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07 Dec 2022, 6:09 pm

kraftiekortie wrote:
Basically, Trump can't do business in New York any longer.


Let's see how well he does setting up shop in Florida (which I suspect he will).


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