Donald Trump’s Organization Plans To Appeal After Being Ordered To Pay $1.6 Million For Tax Fraud

Donald Trump — Former President’s Organization Plans To Appeal After Being Ordered To Pay $1.6 Million For Tax Fraud

Donald Trump is paying a hefty fine for his tax offenses—$1.6 million to be exact.

The company of the former president, who has already entered the 2024 race to retake his position, was fined on Friday (Feb. 13) for a scheme in which his top executives avoided personal income taxes on lavish job perks.

The Trump Organization was found guilty in Dec. 22 of 17 tax offenses, including conspiring and fabricating corporate records. While an ordinary person would have received years in prison for the same offenses, the only punishment a judge could inflict on the organization was a fine — which represented the legal maximum.

Donald Trump denied knowing about a small group of executives who were avoiding taxes on extras like rent-free residences, fancy automobiles, and private school tuition. He was not being tried for anything. Such products, according to the prosecution, were a part of the organization’s “deluxe executive compensation package.”

According to a statement from the Trump Organization, which plans to file an appeal:

“These politically motivated prosecutors will stop at nothing to get President Trump and continue the never ending witch-hunt which began the day he announced his presidency.”

The conviction is a stain on the Republican‘s reputation as a shrewd businessman as he prepares a campaign to win back the White House, even though the fines, which are less than the price of a Trump Tower apartment, aren’t significant enough to affect the company’s operations or future.

Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said he wished the statute had provided for a more severe punishment. His predecessor, Cyrus Vance Jr., left him with the Trump Organization case and the probe into the former president.

Bragg said,

“I want to be very clear: we don’t think that is enough. Our laws in this state need to change in order to capture this type of decade-plus systemic and egregious fraud.”

Only one executive—the former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg—was charged in the case in addition to the business; he pleaded guilty to tax evasion on $1.7 million in wages last summer, receiving a five-month jail term as punishment.

Weisselberg was given a rent-free apartment with a Hudson River view in a Trump-branded building in Manhattan during the course of his years as the company’s top financier. He and his wife both drove Mercedes-Benzes that the corporation had rented. Donald Trump covered the fees for his grandkids to attend a prestigious private school. Similar benefits were given to a few additional executives.

According to the organization,

“Allen Weisselberg is a victim. He was threatened, intimidated and terrorized. He was given a choice of pleading guilty and serving 90 days in prison or serving the rest of his life in jail — all of this over a corporate car and standard employee benefits.”

The Trump Organization was penalized through two companies: the Trump Corporation, which was fined $810,000, and the Trump Payroll Corporation, Tafined $800,000.

Donald Trump & 3 Of His Children Facing $250 Million Lawsuit From New York Attorney General Letitia James For Allegedly Engaging In Financial Fraud: Former Presidents Must Be Held To The Same Standards As Everyday Americans

What are your thoughts on the entire situation? Let us know in the comments!

[VIA]