NEW YORK (AP) — For years, as Donald Trump was hovering from actuality TV star to the White Home, his actual property empire was bankrolling massive perks for a few of his prime executives, together with residences and luxurious vehicles.
Now Trump’s firm, the Trump Group, is on trial for felony tax fraud — on the hook for what prosecutors say was a 15-year scheme by his most trusted lieutenant to keep away from paying taxes on these fringe advantages.
In opening statements Monday, prosecutors and protection attorneys sparred over the corporate’s culpability for the actions of Allen Weisselberg, who has pleaded responsible and agreed to testify as a star prosecution witness in change for a five-month jail sentence.
Later, one other Trump Group govt, senior vice chairman and controller Jeffrey McConney, walked a prosecutor by way of monetary information, together with Weisselberg’s payroll kinds and ledger entries displaying that the corporate paid for Weisselberg’s automobile leases. He’ll resume testifying Tuesday.
McConney, whom prosecutors say helped Weisselberg by misreporting his earnings to tax authorities, was granted immunity to testify final yr earlier than a grand jury and to testify once more on the felony trial. He stated he appeared earlier than the grand jury eight instances on a wide range of Trump-related issues.
The tax fraud case is the one felony trial to come up from the Manhattan district lawyer’s three-year investigation of the previous president and is one in every of three lively circumstances involving Trump or the corporate in New York courts.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger argued in her opening assertion that the Trump Group — by way of its subsidiaries Trump Corp. and Trump Payroll Corp. — is liable as a result of Weisselberg, the longtime finance chief, was a “excessive managerial agent” entrusted to behave on behalf of the corporate and its numerous entities.
The corporate, she stated, benefited as a result of it did not need to pay Weisselberg and at the very least two different executives who obtained perks as a lot in wage and bonus pay — which for Weisselberg totaled near $1 million a yr.
The corporate additionally saved cash when giving out Christmas bonuses by paying prime executives as unbiased contractors by way of subsidiary corporations, reminiscent of its golf programs and the ice rink it managed in Central Park, Hoffinger stated.
“This case is about greed and dishonest — dishonest on taxes,” Hoffinger advised jurors. “(The Trump Group) paid their already extremely paid executives much more by serving to them cheat on taxes.”
A Trump Group lawyer, Michael van der Veen, countered that the Weisselberg had gone rogue and betrayed the corporate’s belief. Weisselberg concocted the scheme with out Trump or the Trump household’s data, cheated on his private earnings taxes and lied to the corporate about what he’d carried out, van der Veen stated.
“This case is about particular person, private greed and the abuse of belief essential to feed that greed. Allen Weisselberg is a person who has fallen to that greed,” van der Veen stated.
“Weisselberg did it for Weisselberg,” he stated.
Weisselberg has pleaded responsible to taking $1.7 million in off-the-books compensation. His Manhattan house, Mercedes-Benz vehicles for him and his spouse, and his grandchildren’s faculty tuition had been all paid for by the corporate. His son and one other Trump Group govt additionally obtained off-the-books compensation, prosecutors stated.
After they say the Trump firm, “what they actually imply is Allen Weisselberg did one thing unlawful with the intent to learn Allen Weisselberg, his buddy or his son,” one other firm lawyer, Susan Necheles, advised jurors.
If convicted, the Trump Group may very well be fined greater than $1 million and will face problem in securing new loans and offers. Some companions and authorities entities might search to chop ties with the corporate. It might additionally hamper its means to do enterprise with the U.S. Secret Service, which typically pays the corporate for lodging and companies whereas defending Trump as a former president.
Neither Trump nor any of his kids who’ve labored as Trump Group executives are charged or accused of wrongdoing. Trump signed among the checks on the heart of the case, however Necheles stated proof will present he knew nothing in regards to the scheme.
The Trump Group is the entity by way of which Trump manages his many ventures, together with investments in golf programs, luxurious towers and different actual property, his many advertising offers and his TV pursuits.
Prosecutors have stated they anticipate to name 15 witnesses, together with Weisselberg, McConney and different Trump Group officers. Decide Juan Manuel Merchan stated he expects the trial to take at the very least 4 weeks.
Apart from the felony case, Trump and the Trump Group are defendants in a lawsuit introduced by New York Legal professional Normal Letitia James, who alleges that Trump and the corporate inflated his web value by billions of {dollars} and misled banks and others for years in regards to the worth of assorted property.
A listening to in that case is scheduled for Thursday.
In the meantime, within the Bronx, jury choice was scheduled to start Monday in a lawsuit introduced by protesters who say they had been roughed up by safety guards exterior Trump Tower. The previous president gave a deposition in that case final yr.
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