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| Photo Credit: AP. |
The Trump Organization is facing criminal charges for alleged tax and financial crimes in a trial that is due to begin on Monday and could be forced to pay fines and back taxes up to $1.6 million, according to Bloomberg. The Trump Organization is owned by former President Donald Trump who is not facing any charges in the case.
The Trump
Organization has maintained its innocence in the matter after the company was
indicted last year.
In August Trump’s
top executive Allen Weisselberg, 75, agreed to testify against the company in
plea bargain after pleading guilty for tax evasion on a free apartment,
according to The Associated Press.
Weisselberg,
a former longtime chief financial officer and a senior Trump Organization
adviser pleaded guilty to all 15 of the charges brought against him in the case,
The Associated Press reported.
Weisselberg
admitted taking in over $1.7 million worth of untaxed extras – including school
tuition for his grandchildren, a free rent for a Manhattan apartment and lease
payments for a luxury car as well as keeping some of the records off the books,
according to The Associated Press.
The Trump
Organization trial will take place in the New York State Supreme Court in
Manhattan.
In September
New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Trump and his adult children over
claims of manipulating the value of his business assets to borrow money on more
favorable terms. Mr. Trump is also accused of paying lower insurance premiums
as well as paying lower taxes.
The Democratic
Attorney General accused Trump, his family and his business of submitting false
documents, adding she believes it violated state and federal laws, The
Washington Times reported.
Ms. James
said the Trump Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg aided the Trump family
to knowingly review and approve financial statements that were fraudulent,
according to The Washington Times.
“Donald
Trump falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich
himself and cheat the system, thereby cheating all of us,” Ms. James said,
according to The Washington Times. “He did this with the help of his other
defendants, his children.”
She accused
Trump of inflating the value of his apartment by listing it as 30,000 square
feet instead of its actual size of 11,000 square feet in a case of “deliberate
fraud,” according to The Washington Times.
Ms. Letitia
said the false size resulted in an evaluation of the apartment of $327 million,
even though no apartment in the city has ever sold for such amount.
Ms. Letitia
is seeking a minimum financial penalty of $250 million against Trump and his
company for allegedly engaging in fraudulent business practices, according to
the Washington Examiner.
"This
investigation revealed that Donald Trump engaged in years of illegal conduct to
inflate his net worth ... to deceive banks and the people of the great state of
New York. Claiming you have money that you do not have does not amount to the
art of the deal. It’s the art of the steal," James declared during a press
briefing, the Washington Examiner reported.
"Mr.
Trump and the Trump Organization repeatedly and persistently manipulated the
value of assets to induce banks to lend money to the Trump Organization on more
favorable terms than [what] would otherwise have been available to the
company," she explained during a press event, according to the Washington
Examiner.
The attorney
general launched a civil investigation into allegations that Trump’s company,
the Trump Organization, misstated the value of prized assets like golf courses
and skyscrapers, misleading lenders and tax authorities, The Associated Press
reported.
The investigation into the Trump Organization began after Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael D. Cohen testified to Congress that Mr. Trump and his employees had manipulated his net worth to suit his interests, The New York Times reported.