The former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, Allen Weisselberg, a close friend of former United States President Donald Trump and who had pleaded guilty to tax evasion, was sentenced in New York on Tuesday to five months in prison and to fine of more than two million dollars.
Mr. Weisselberg had pleaded guilty to 15 counts of tax evasion and evasion involving US$1.76 million (approximately C$2.36 million) of undeclared income for years, in connection with a vast financial fraud case in which the Trump Organization was also found guilty on December 6, a criminal first for this group.
“In Manhattan, you have to play by the rules whoever you are and whoever you work for,” New York State Attorney for the District of Manhattan Alvin Bragg thundered in a statement announcing a five-month prison sentence and more than $2 million in back taxes, fines, and interest owed to New York State and New York City tax authorities.
“The Trump Organization’s CFO Allen Weisselberg used his position to secure lavish perks such as a free rental of a luxury Manhattan apartment, a number of Mercedes-Benz cars, and tuition in private schools for his grandchildren, all without paying the required taxes, ”denounced the prosecutor, an elected Democrat.
‘Jail for his crimes’
“Weisselberg will serve his prison sentence for his crimes,” added Mr. Bragg, while American media present in the courtroom claimed that the former financial director had been taken handcuffed to Rikers Island prison in New York.
This prison, of sinister reputation, notably saw the former film producer Harvey Weinstein and the former director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Dominique Strauss-Kahn pass for cases of sexual assault.
The case of the Trump Organization, whose conviction by the same criminal court in Manhattan is expected on Friday, concerns a system of false accounting declarations to hide for years (from 2005 to 2018) from the tax services financial compensation in kind of some senior leaders.
In particular Mr. Weisselberg, who had testified at the trial of his former company Trump Organization in November after pleading guilty in August.
“Weisselberg admitted all the charges against him and testified openly before the court,” Mr. Bragg recalled.
The Trump Organization, which brings together golf clubs, luxury hotels and real estate properties, had tried to blame its former financial director, assuring that he had himself “declared under oath [avoir] “betrayed” trust [de] the society “.
Trump not indicted
If he is not currently the subject of any indictment, Donald Trump is the target of legal proceedings which accumulate as he approaches in a more difficult position than he hoped for the race for the nomination of the Republican Party for the presidential election of 2024.
A special prosecutor, Jack Smith, notably resumed work already well advanced by the dozens of federal prosecutors and FBI police officers who have gathered a mass of evidence on the Republican leader’s maneuvers to challenge the 2020 presidential election and the actions of his supporters that led to the unrest of January 6, 2021.
From October 2023, the billionaire will appear on the other hand in New York, with three of his children, Donald Jr, Eric and Ivanka, accused like them of fraudulent tax practices within the Trump Organization.
But it will be a civil trial.
In the case, New York State Attorney General Letitia James accuses the Trump family of “deliberately” manipulating the valuations of the group’s assets to obtain better loans from banks or reduce its taxes.
She is seeking US$250 million (approximately CA$335 million) in damages on behalf of the state, as well as bans from running companies for the former president and his relatives.