Allen Weisselberg, the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, former US President Donald Trump’s company, has pleaded guilty to 15 charges including grand theft, tax fraud and forgery of company documents: Weisselberg did so in court on Thursday. of New York, as part of a trial into the Trump Organization’s alleged illegal activities.
The company was indicted last year for developing a system that the indictment said would allow its top officials to evade taxes for the past 15 years. In particular, the Trump Organization would have compensated various officials with fringe benefits or benefits in addition to the monetary amounts paid as salaries (the “Fringe Benefits”), bonuses that would not have been declared to the authorities. The company was also accused of not paying the taxes on the “fringe benefits” shown on the payslip.
Weißelberg, in particular, was accused of evading taxes on $1.7 million in perks that should have been treated as income. In July of last year, Weisselberg pleaded not guilty: at Thursday’s hearing, he instead admitted being part of the scheme, receiving private school fees for his grandchildren, some BMW cars and a Manhattan home. He is expected to be sentenced to five years in prison and around $2 million in taxes, penalties and interest.
– Also read: Investigations against the Trump Organization